Irish Rose Rewind
by Vixen With A Vendetta
Summary: MUST READ IRISH ROSE FIRST! Alternate sequel. When Klaus stakes Maggie, she wakes up back in the boardinghouse cell after the first Council meeting. How will she handle the memories of months that never happened, particularly Klaus and an emotionless Kol? [TVD/The Walking Dead Crossover, but mostly TVD] Kol/Maggie, Elijah/Maggie.
1. Chapter 1

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_This chapter includes excerpts from Irish Rose, which you MUST read to understand this. See the author's note at the end of this chapter for more information._

_**Irish Rose: Rewind**_

_Previously in Chapter 58 of Irish Rose…_

* * *

_Maggie smirked at her and leaned closer. "Do you feel that? The pulsating in your skull, the throbbing that just won't go away?" Maggie gestured towards her temple while taunting her._

_Katherine's hearing was almost reduced to a ringing, agitated by the shock to her system. She swallowed in a vain attempt to quench her thirst and gave a faint nod._

_"That's your heart beat, Katerina. Welcome back to mortality," Maggie hissed at her with a dark grin._

_It was that noise that every vampire in the room could hear that kept them rooted to their spots. It was faint and straining, but it was growing with each moment and undeniably human._

_Katherine gave an inaudible gasp, which came out scratchy and her heart skipped a beat, realizing she was staring up at not one, but two demons._

_"What happens now?" Klaus asked Maggie, clearly trying to contain his excitement, but also weary of the fact Katherine looked like she was in no condition to start donating blood._

_"Keep her on a strict water diet for the next 24 hours, no blood, before human food. If she starts vomiting, give her soft and simple foods like you would a baby until she adjusts," Maggie stated bluntly and impersonally, like she was about an animal and not a human._

_Maggie rose to her feet then, as if washing herself of the doppelganger._

_Nodding to her words, Klaus moved around Katherine to Maggie's side, where the water containers were. Maggie took a step back to allow him to move and watched as the hybrid popped the cap off the water._

_The room was silent while he helped Katherine take a long gulp from the container. Her eyes were already shut before the plastic touched her lips and despite herself she drank greedily._

_Maggie took the chance to look around the room. Elena and Damon were standing beside each other on their respective side of the room. Stefan and Rebekah sat in subdued silence, mere spectators to the miracle they witnessed. Kol was turned in his seat and gave Maggie a wink, it was done and they would be out of here soon. Elijah had put the book aside and rose from his seat, struggling with the sight of Katherine being alive and very much human, but never again the innocent peasant girl he had met._

_Klaus pulled the container away from Katherine's lips, mostly empty already and grinned at the fact her heart beat sounded just a little steadier than it did moments ago._

_He set the container aside, remaining in a crouched position and looked to Maggie. "It appears that your word holds some water after all, Maggie," He announced with a smile that could seem friendly to others and sadistic to some._

_She couldn't help the relieved sigh that passed her lips and she nodded._

_Klaus stared at her for a moment, the woman that was stronger than she let onto and held abilities that he apparently wasn't fully aware of. Furthermore, instead of using her against Damon, he already witnessed her pitting his brothers against each other. Nonetheless, she delivered exactly what she promised._

_"But I never gave mine and your existence is a liability to mine," Klaus declared in an ambiguous tone._

_"What?" Maggie barely gasped out before she saw a blur. Her eye couldn't process the way he reached out to the dining room chair she sat in moments ago and snapped the leg off before launching himself at her in a fluid motion._

_"No!" Rebekah shrieked in a piercing tone while the two slammed into the wall behind Maggie._

_Kol panicked, cursing the time he had delayed staring at the fragile form of the woman that caused his family so much grief centuries ago. He shot out of his chair immediately at Klaus and Maggie._

_For the training sessions and the confidence that Maggie had built from Kol's blood, Klaus still had his inherit strength and speed from being a hybrid. There was the simple fact that Klaus had surprise and for all Maggie's training, she wasn't a match for him._

_Kol was just a fraction too slow from having been fed on earlier._

_A fraction too slow compared to his brother, a thousand years of strength and breed onto his own that was stronger than his siblings._

_A fraction too slow to stop the sound of wood plunging into the epidermis and bones crushing beneath its power._

_A fraction too long before Kol pulled Klaus by the shoulders, yanking him back unceremoniously across the room._

_The hybrid crashed into the coffee table while the others darted out of the way._

_Kol stopped himself with his hands on either side of Maggie's shoulders. He didn't look her in the eyes though and Maggie could barely follow his gaze down to her chest. Her hands shook and her mind numbly processed the leg of the chair protruding from her chest, pinning her to the wall and the concept of time slipped away._

_"No!" Kol gasped and his hands moved to take the stake out of her, but stopped. His rational mind shuddered at the fact it seemed so, __so__ close to her heart. If the wood was pulled the wrong way, it could kill her. He could fix this._

_But his rational mind was in complete denial at what he was seeing._

_"How could you?!" Rebekah shrieked from behind Kol and launched herself at Klaus, her hopes and her friend being dashed in the same blow._

_The pain erupted in Maggie's chest for a brief moment before her body went into shock. Kol let out an anguished cry, completely inhumane, feeling the similar pain in his chest. Everything went numb for her and her body began to squeeze up while her skin paled._

_Kol couldn't tell if the noise escaping her lips was her throat clenching up or her last attempt at uttering the simple syllable of his name._

_Her peripheral vision went first before she became faintly aware of what was happening, so quickly. She didn't see the way Stefan was restraining Damon from launching himself at Klaus as well. The shouting and cries in the room rose until they dulled into a hollow ringing and deafened completely._

_Kol was helpless to the way her skin greyed and her eyes lulled shut, her vision failing with the last image of a dark angel breaking with anguish and pain. The black veins rose up around her neck and into her face, along her hands as well before her body slumped finally against the wall_

* * *

_Chapter Song: _

_Hoobstank – Out of Control_

_Taylor Swift – I Knew You Were Trouble_

_Scene: Town Square – end of chapter_

**Chapter One**

Maggie stirred with a gasp. Her eyes shot open immediately and her back arched off the mattress. Even as her vision came into focus, she still saw the vision of the wood stake coming at her from Klaus and sinking into her chest. There was no shaking the image of Kol breaking in anguish in front of her eyes. His pale features faded into the dim lighting of the room around her.

Maggie blinked, panting heavily while her chest heaved. She was staring up at a basement ceiling and she caught the damp scent mixed with old stone. Her hand clutched over her chest immediately, rubbing harshly against her sternum but feeling no wood, or bruising, or even a scratch.

Did it miss her heart? It must have, Maggie figured as she slowly pushed herself up to a seat on the cot. Every joint protested in her body and her muscles ached to their fiber. If she thought getting her neck snapped, this was even worse. She felt so weak and fragile.

Maggie frowned, looking down at herself and her attire. She ran her hands over her jeans. This wasn't what she was wearing last night. She didn't know what to think of the stained and worn out clothing she had frequently wore on the run with the Atlanta group. She was more distracted by taking in her surroundings.

The boardinghouse basement cell.

She knew this place, knew it well and hated it for everything it stood for. Why in the world would Kol bring her back here? Her gaze paused at the two water bottles set at the foot of the cot. She nearly snorted. Her throat was burning and parched, but what good would water do?

"Damon?" Maggie called out, looking to the familiar barred window of the cell. Only this could be his bright idea, she thought sarcastically. Her voice came out hoarse and she found herself reaching towards the water bottle in spite of herself. She could find something better later, but now the air scraped against her throat.

She was through the first bottle before she tossed it carelessly aside. At least there was no vervain in it, she thought to herself. Maggie continued to frown and pushed herself up from the cot. Damon had to be in the house, but he didn't come at her calling him. She couldn't even hear him in the house.

Her irritation boiled up with agitation. She wanted out of this basement cell and now.

"Damon!" Maggie shouted as she came to stand at the barred window. She tried to peer towards the stairs, ignoring the chugging of the generator attached to the blood cooler across from the basement cell. She couldn't hear anything else over it.

"Damon Salvatore, get your ass down here and open this goddamn door!" Maggie shouted even louder, pressing her cheeks up against the bars of the window. "You know how much I hate it in here," She added on threateningly.

"Stupid vampire," She grumbled mostly to herself. This was probably another one of his misguided attempts at keeping herself after Klaus staking her. How he had gotten her away from Kol and Rebekah was beyond her though.

She heard some heavy footsteps coming down the stairs. They thudded against the wood, but moved briskly. Maggie pressed her face a little harder against the bars to try to glimpse of the newcomer.

She let out a sigh of relief at the sight of the jean cladded and plaid wearing school teacher.

"Ric! Thank god," Maggie relaxed. It wasn't Damon, but at least it was someone sensible. She didn't think too much of the perplexed and apprehensive look he gave her as he slowly approached the door.

"Let me out of here," She requested firmly, looking down between them at the offensive piece of wood and metal.

Alaric opened his mouth, hesitating on his words. He was going to ask her how she was doing, but she certainly seemed energetic enough.

"Yeah, uh…" Alaric hesitated, his eyes flickering briefly up to the stairs. "I can't do that. Damon's out now and if I do that…"

"Seriously, Ric?" Maggie scoffed. She knew they were best friends, but this was a bit much. The older man's brow continued to furrow deeply at Maggie addressing them like they knew each other better than they did.

"What's the real meaning of this?" Maggie gave a jerk of the bars as she questioned him. She expected them to jostle more than they actually did, they should have at least. But they didn't budge.

Alaric just opened his mouth and took a half a step back from the door when Maggie slammed a frustrated fist against the wood.

"I'm going to snap that overbearing neck of his when I get out of here," Maggie grumbled under her breath.

It was then she pulled her hand away from the door, she felt the jarring sensation throughout it, down to the very bone. It was sharp and painful. She unclenched her fist and frowned suddenly down at her hand. That hurt, like it really hurt, more than it should have for a vampire and the wood didn't even groan.

That was the moment she really became aware of her breathing, how needed each breath was, which came quick and panicked from the situation.

"What the hell?" Maggie muttered, suddenly ignoring Alaric.

Her hand was throbbing and aching from the new abuse, almost pulsating. Her eyes widened and she reached up with two fingers against her throat. Her hand began to shake, especially when she found the spot on her neck.

Her body froze and the air was still between them when she felt that distinctive rhythmic beat. To Maggie, it felt like the air was gone cold and her stomach dropped.

"How? How?" She began to murmured repeatedly, only faintly looking at a thoroughly confused Alaric.

She stumbled back from the door several steps. "I'm human, human," Maggie formed the foreign word on her tongue.

She dropped her hand from her neck and just stared at her hands. Each breath came faster and faster as the sickening realization sank in.

"Maggie?" Alaric called her name in sudden concern. He didn't know what to think of the gasping short breaths she was taking, her chest heaving with each motion.

Her hands visibly shook and her eyes darted frantically around the cell, seeing demons that weren't actually there.

"No, no, no," Maggie mumbled in horror.

She couldn't be human. She couldn't be weak and fragile again.

If she was human, what happened? She had died and turned, she was certain of that. She became a vampire, she liked being a vampire and she had her mate.

Her breaths were quick, but they weren't enough. The room was too small, the air too thick to breath. It was closing in on her. Her feet stumbled on the floor, it was moving before her. She had to get out of here.

She spun around back to the door in time to see Alaric reaching for the latch before her eyes rolled to the back of her head. Maggie dropped heavily to the ground in a thudding noise with Alaric shouting her name, echoing off the walls.

* * *

Maggie stirred with a groan, hoping it had all been a sick joke. She would wake up back in the Mikaelson mansion. Kol would be there with a blood bag to help her recover from the almost fatal wood stake. Klaus would be gone. They would be okay.

When her eyes blinked open, she didn't see the living room of the Mikaelson mansion. Instead she was the one of another eerily familiar home. The fireplace was empty before her, because it was still daylight out. With a sinking feeling in her stomach, she realized she was on the red sofa of the boardinghouse living room.

"Finally, you're awake!" A familiar voice called out, causing Maggie to roll from her back and onto her side.

She used an elbow to start to push herself up. Her vision was quickly obstructed by the sight of Damon walking around the side of the couch, whiskey tumbler in hand before crouching down at eye level with her. She squinted at the piercing blue eyes of his, which held their usual confident snark masking genuine fascination at the moment.

"Whoa, easy there, Mike Tyson," Damon warned her, holding a hand out just above her shoulder to slow her down from lifting her head so quickly off the decorative pillow that was tucked under her. "There's a damn good chance you have a concussion," He spoke, having heard how hard of a fall she took from Alaric.

A groan passed through Maggie's lips while her hand went up to her head. She winced a bit when it rubbed against the sensitive and now swollen spot. Apparently she took a good crack against the pavement. Her stomach was still a tense knot, which she wasn't sure if that was from the growing panic as she became more alert or the possible concussion.

When she opened her eyes again, Damon was still crouched in front of her head and had his head cocked slightly. He was watching her closely, studying her. Maggie couldn't help but slink back in her spot on the couch, her back pressing up against the cushion at the attention.

"Who's Cole?" Damon asked bluntly, his brow line tense with curiosity.

"What?" Maggie blinked incredulously, her head was pounding still and for a moment she wasn't sure if she heard him correctly. He's joking, right?

"The name you were mumbling in your sleep…" Damon offered more specifically, the question still in the air. Damon wondered if that was the name of one of the survivors from the prison.

Maggie just stared at him.

She was too stunned to even get mad, but then again her head was throbbing too. It reminded her just how human she was all of the sudden and that prospect alone made it hurt even more to try to understand.

Damon let out a sigh.

He didn't know what to make of this. He was expecting more harsh glares, stoic responses followed by another assault from her, not this wide-eyed and confused woman.

He definitely didn't know what to make of the way Maggie leaned her head slightly forward, lowering her voice in a gesture of searching for reassurance. "Damon… what's going on? What happened yesterday?"

Damon's eyes narrowed slightly in confusion this time. The way she was looking at him threw him off, but he had to admit it was a relief from all the hostility he was getting from her lately.

"You don't remember?" Damon's eyebrows rose dubiously. He wasn't sure if he believed Alaric, but the blank look from her was making him start to wonder.

Maggie opened her mouth, but hesitated on the words. Remember what exactly? She wasn't sure where to begin. Something was definitely up. For a brief moment, the last image of Klaus flashing towards her and Kol screaming came to mind. But after that it was nothing, like say… how she became human and woke up was a void.

"Huh," Damon huffed out shortly, taking her moment of hesitation for a lapse of memory. "I guess you weren't kidding, Ric," Damon's voice rose, suddenly addressing over Maggie.

Maggie stiffened and shifted up in her seat a bit to follow Damon's gaze over the back of the couch, towards the infamous liquor table. She blinked at the sight of the familiar school teacher pouring himself a drink and reaching for a second glass, probably for Damon.

Alaric shook his head and mumbled something about telling him so. Maggie looked back to Damon with increasing confusion.

"He said you had a bad reaction to the vervain. You woke up delirious and cracked your skull when you passed out," Damon explained the unspoken question in her eyes, admitting the facts of the situation like it was no more interesting than the weather.

"Vervain?" Maggie repeated at a loss. There wasn't any vervain involved, she hadn't touched the herb since…

"Yeah, that's what Sheriff Forbes dosed you with… it's what was in your drink," Damon explained, his piercing gaze searching her expression once more. He didn't even have it in him to make snarky comments because he had never seen anyone have this bad of a reaction to it.

Maggie started shaking her head. None of this was making any sense now.

"You… do remember going to the meeting, right?" Damon started fishing for any sign of recognition on her face.

"Meeting?" Maggie blurted out uncertainly. If he meant the meeting at the mansion, then why was Sheriff Forbes there? She had nothing to do with this.

"The Council Meeting?" Damon prompted frankly, ignoring the curious look he was getting from Alaric behind the couch. "You were chatting it up with Little Gilbert?"

Finally, he got a reaction.

Maggie froze, her brows pulling into an apprehensive and dawning line. It made Damon worry even more the way her face paled more than it already was. Questionable head injury wasn't a good look for her, nor looking like she had seen a ghost.

"No, no," Maggie ran the hand through her hair again, mumbling faintly. "How is this possible?" She questioned aloud, momentarily ignoring the men in the room. That Council meeting was months ago, how could Damon just be acting like it had happened yesterday? Was this some sort of cruel joke? Alaric seemed in on it too.

Maggie started to sit up right, stirring with genuine panic again. The weird nightmare was still going.

"Easy there," Damon warned her, this time putting a hand on her shoulder to make sure she wouldn't fall over. He felt her stiffen briefly under his hand, but she didn't push it away. "Let's get some air, yeah? Supposed that helps clear up everything, right?" He flashed her a smirk.

"How? What the…?" Maggie mumbled, her eyes darting around frantically while she eased herself up to her feet. Her knees wobbled briefly and Damon remained hovering in front of her, like if she was going to fall to porcelain pieces. She glanced back briefly at Alaric, who just watched them and didn't take a step towards her.

No, it can't be the day of that Council meeting. That was months ago. It's impossible, right?

Maggie numbly took in the boardinghouse while Damon guided her towards the front door. He wasn't sure if it was reassuring that she wasn't trying to bolt or escape because she seemed so lost.

She couldn't help but search the hallway for any sign of familiarity of the time had passed. She needed to see the splinter in the wood from Stefan punching the wall after Klaus visiting or where she threw Damon against the wall after her transition.

She didn't get long enough of a chance to spot them before they reached the front door.

"Where are we going?" Maggie asked aloud, her brain finally registering the fact he suggested leaving the house.

Damon gave a shrug of his shoulders and spoke words that caused Maggie's to twist excruciatingly from their familiarity, "Downtown, to show you all that there is Mystic Falls."

* * *

Even rolling the window down to feel the wind against her face didn't help her rising anxiety. Maggie sat in the passenger seat of the Camaro, reluctantly at best and stared out around them as Damon started to weave through the streets. Her eyes darted around frantically, taking in the landscape, noting the differences. Even the weather didn't feel right. She didn't say anything because she was still waiting for him to say he was just teasing and pulling her leg. It couldn't be the same day that she got vervained at the Council meeting, right?

"What's the date?" Maggie blurted out all of the sudden without looking at Damon.

The vampire quirked an eyebrow at the question. He was still trying to keep track of her erratic behavior. She went from being dazed and confused on the sofa, to sitting unusually quiet and cooperative in the car.

"Uh, the second week of May," Damon half shrugged with a hand on the steering wheel, not knowing exactly off the top of his head.

Maggie's eyes widened, her head turning towards him this time. At first she thought he had to be joking, but there wasn't any hint of attitude. He just shrugged at the casual bit of information. Her stomach knotted from that simple word; May. It should be almost fall…

She shook her head in disbelief, unable to form a response for him.

Damon turned back to the road, figuring she probably just lost track of time out on the road running from the walkers. It wasn't like they had a need for a pocket calendar.

The Camaro turned down a familiar street that caused Maggie to shift upright in her seat suddenly. Damon suspiciously watched her out of the corner of his eye but didn't say anything, just wondering what stirred her sudden attention.

"Damon, stop the car," Maggie demanded suddenly in a quiet tone.

"Excuse me?" Damon drew out the words, wondering where she got the idea it was okay to boss him around.

"Stop the car," She repeated without looking at him. Her eyes were in the street. There should be that red Camry, smashed in and beat up. But it was nowhere in sight and she couldn't even spot any shatter plastic or glass on the pavement.

"What for?" Damon didn't bother slowing down in the least, instead he was looking around to see what was panicking her. Everything seemed normal to him.

"Stop the fucking car, Damon!" Maggie shouted suddenly, reaching the end of her patience before they could drive past the house.

The Camaro lurched forward with the slamming of the brakes.

He realized no matter what the situation was or what was going on, something about hearing that level of distress in someone's voice caused him to do exactly that. Both hands were white knuckling the steering wheel when the Camaro came to quick halt.

He looked over at Maggie before he could ask what was going on, she was already opening the door and slipping out of the seat. He let a swear out under his breath.

"What did I tell you about trying to run away?" Damon drawled out in a bored tone, getting out of the car and assuming that was what she was doing. At least he would give her a bit of a head start just for fun, he decided.

Maggie ignored him.

Instead of taking off down the street, she went around the car towards one of the houses. There were no vehicles parked in the driveway. The walkway was cracked and overgrown. The bushes in front yard were neglected and unruly.

Her breathing began to accelerate with her dread as she got closer and closer to the familiar gray home. The wrap-around porch was uncared for and the paint was beginning to flake off. There was rust on the chains of the swinging bench. More importantly, no light or life came from the windows.

"No, no, no," Maggie began mumbling frantically as her boots pounded up the stairs and she went for the front door. "This can't be possible," She muttered. Her hands tried the front door knob, but it resisted. She jostled the wood angrily, trying to get it to budge and forgive.

Damon remained a few yards behind her with his hands shoved awkwardly in his pockets. He thought she was running, but now he was just trying to figure out why she was freaking out over an abandoned house.

"This can't be happening, how…" Maggie exclaimed to no one in particularly while darting to the front windows. She pressed her forehead against the glass trying to get a peek inside the home. It looked nothing like the way it was supposed to be. The furniture was overturn and different. Nothing was in the right place.

"My family," Maggie realized with horror. They weren't here and it looked like they never had been.

She spun on her heel to face Damon, approaching him with brisk and shaking steps.

"My family, where's my family, Damon? Where are they?" She barely registered the fact that she was starting to hyperventilate again or the way her hands shook when she reached out to grab at the sleeves of his jacket.

Damon pulled his head back slightly in surprise. "What are you talking about?" He pointed out. Did she just fly the crazy nest all of the sudden? Maybe that vervain had done some permanent damage.

"Where are they?" Her voice began to rise to a shout and she had to resist the urge to shake them.

Damon's eyes snapped into a defensive narrow at her tone. "I told you already. They're at the prison, I didn't do anything to them."

Maggie's hands let go of his jacket like if he shocked her at the word prison. She began shaking her head in denial, could they really all be back there? He was certainly acting like it.

"They could be dead," Maggie muttered bluntly, a hand ringing through her hair in agitation. A million possibilities ran through her mind. She had no idea what was becoming of them at the prison. She could barely wrap her head around how it was possible for them to be back at the prison and it was hard for her because she didn't want to understand it. She didn't want her family to be trapped there. It was nothing more than a tomb.

"I gotta find them, I gotta keep them safe. They aren't safe there," Maggie murmured frantically starting to walk away from Damon without really seeing him.

"Hey, you need to relax," Damon called out to her, seeing the way she was hyperventilating. At this rate, she would deprive herself of oxygen and pass out again. He followed after her briskly, not sure where she was intending on heading down the sidewalk.

"No, they're not here. I'm not going to relax until they're here," Maggie pointed a frustrated finger towards the ground as she spoke, almost shouting. Her boots sounded heavily against the sidewalk.

"They should be here. They have to be here. They _need_ to be here," Her last sentence came out more like a desperate plea. Mystic Falls wasn't the safest place, but at least it was free of walkers. She needed her family.

The tears that started to sting at the corner of her eyes were because of her need for her family for a different reason than safety.

Damon appeared in front of her suddenly, blocking her path with a determined look on his face. He reached out to catch her shoulders.

"Maggie," He said her voice in a gentle, but commanding tone, leveling his face with hers. "I need you to calm down," The frankness of his tone caused Maggie to halt and really look at him.

That was when she noticed his eyes and the odd flicker of them.

There was a sharp crack in the air.

Damon closed his eyes and his mouth hung openly briefly. He wasn't sure what hurt more, his ego or the stinging of his cheek. He opened his eyes to see Maggie pulling her hand behind her back, he wasn't able to see the way she shook out it because he was distracted by the sharp venomous glare from her.

"Don't you compel me to calm down," She growled out at him before circling around him and continuing on down the sidewalk with renewed vigor.

* * *

For a brief moment, she had thought she got Damon to go away and leave her alone. It was quiet around her and she didn't hear his footsteps coming after her. At least, she thought she had stunned him, until she heard the rumbling of a car engine behind her. She didn't bother turning her head, but she could sense the vehicle slow down to a crawling pace next to her as she marched on determinedly.

Of course he wouldn't want to leave his precious car behind, Maggie shook her head at the thought.

"Where do you think you're going?" Damon asked in a sing-song tone, clearly trying to pretend that she didn't hurt his pride or anything by slapping him.

"To find Sheriff Forbes," Maggie declared bluntly. Her mind was still spinning and struggling to grasp with reality, but now she was angry to top it off. She couldn't believe he had the audacity to try to compel her. The Damon she remembered wouldn't do that after everything they had been through. Even if this was some sort of Damon that couldn't remember anything that happened, she was still annoyed he would even try it. She didn't take to being manipulated like some sort of puppet too well.

"The police station is the other way," Damon threw a thumb over his shoulder, back in the direction that they came from.

"No, it's not. It's downtown," Maggie called his bluff, pointing forward to where she was going. "And the boardinghouse is back that way."

"Damn," Damon muttered in frustration at the failed attempt. His eyes then narrowed on her suspiciously though, "How do you know that?"

Maggie clenched her jaw and very pointedly kept her gaze away from him at that. Everything was messed up sideways right now, but she had to recognize for some reason that Damon was convinced she only knew as much as she did that day at the Council meeting.

"I… saw it the police station before the meeting," Maggie lied quickly, and hopefully convincingly. Let's just say if, and not that she really believed it but for hypothetical sake, it really was that day then it would be odd for her to suddenly know the ins and outs of Mystic Falls.

She didn't get a response from Damon, but she could feel his cool calculating gaze on her as the Camaro continued to crawl to match her pace.

It could be a valid answer, but he didn't buy it completely. She wasn't even hesitating about what streets to go down and that would be pretty impressive to know after driving down them one time handcuffed in the backseat of Alaric's car.

"I'm going to find Sheriff Forbes and get my family back," Maggie declared, trying to force her mind on that one simple task. Just force yourself to deal with one issue at a time, Maggie told herself. It was the only way she could stay remotely sane right now.

She couldn't let herself think about the fact she was human now. She couldn't let herself dwell on how weak and vulnerable that made her right now. Nor could she think about everything she didn't have right now, her family, her sister. Most of all, she couldn't think let herself think about how her mate was nowhere in sight. If she was human, was he still her mate? No, she couldn't think about that.

"How about we just stop and talk this out like two semi-sane and mature adults?" Damon suggested, getting impatient with Maggie's behavior but not stepping too close to her.

Within minutes, they reached the downtown area, just at the edge of the town square. The vampire parked in the Camaro and was at her side in a blur of a movement. She didn't even jump at the action, which Damon found interesting considering how jumpy she had been before this morning.

He tried questioning her more on the way, but he didn't get much out of her.

Maggie stopped in her strides briefly to look at Damon, who had his hands up in the air in a non-aggressive manner. She didn't even have the energy to address the way he was looking at her like an animal about to snap.

She was about to snap, truth be told.

"Fine," Maggie clipped out, she glanced across the town square and she could see the large hands of the clock tower. At least the police station wasn't far away.

Damon nodded, at least a little relieved to get that cooperation out of her. The heated march downtown helped burn off some of her raw energy, but he could tell that she would explode again if rubbed the wrong way.

He led the way through the line of trees that edged the town square and broke through them in a couple of strides. Maggie followed him and felt her blood run cold again when they stepped through.

Her eyes settled upon the familiar picnic table, one that she had many conversations with him before.

Damon nodded towards it pointedly, encouraging her to take a seat. But she didn't, she couldn't sit there and pretend that everything was going to be okay. Maggie remained standing, causing Damon to quirk an eyebrow awkwardly and remain standing with her beside the table, in case she decided to bolt again.

"Okay…" Damon drew out in the tense silence. Maggie eyes flickered upon him briefly before looking around them and across the town square. They lingered the yellow buses in front of the Mystic Grill. She felt a lump form in her throat. She didn't need him to tell her that one bus was going to the school and the other was going to the construction projects.

"I take it you figured out what I am," Damon cocked his head slightly at her.

Maggie nodded. "A vampire," She responded to him flatly, her eyes following the forms of people with familiar brown bags getting on the buses and hugged their loved ones goodbye for the day. "Jeremy told me," She used the meeting as an excuse. She tried not to think about the taste of acid at the back of her throat.

Her head was still throbbing too, the heating beating down on them wasn't making the pain any better.

Damon blinked and watched her closely. He could hear how frantic her heart was beating, but her expression was largely composed in that moment. She just admitted it so casually, he wondered if she was still in denial about it. "I know, I heard. But how do you know about compulsion?" He questioned. Little Gilbert only gave the suggestion of vampires, no specifics.

"What?" Maggie's head snapped back to Damon briefly.

"How did you know I tried to compel you?" Damon repeated bluntly, stepping closer to tower over Maggie.

The action caused Maggie to take a pointed step back from him. She started shaking her head. She looked around her, she felt sick when she spotted the same group of children playing a hand game in the town square. They were the same children, ages four to six, wearing the same light summer clothes. Even the gestures were the same ones that she remembered.

"I can't do this," Maggie deflected, unable to answer his question. This was just some sick nightmare on repeat in her mind, she decided. "I can't take this. I can't do this, Damon," Maggie began to repeat, pulling at her hair again while spinning on her heel to take in everything going on downtown.

The buses were parked in the same exact spots. The same people, wearing the same clothing, hugging the same people in the same places. The same children, the same bags they carried. It was too much.

"Do what, Maggie?" Damon gave an exasperated sigh, stepping closer to follow after her, but not touching her. She looked like she was one push away from a psychotic break. "What did I do?"

"I can't just sit there," Maggie's voice rose to a shout as she pointed towards the picnic table. "And pretend that everything is just okay. I can't sit there and listen to you tell me about vampires and doppelgangers, like I haven't heard it before. I'm not Rose, but I know I'm a doppelganger!"

Damon's mouth fell open and he froze in his steps while Maggie continued to back pedal away from him.

"I need to find my family! And I need to figure what is going on. I need…" Maggie voice's trailed momentarily as an idea dawned on her. Her thoughts poured out of her mouth, regardless of Damon or whoever may also be listening to her shouting.

"I need to find a witch! A witch, right now. They can fix this," Maggie's hands waved in the air and she turned on her heel, leaving a rather flabbergasted Damon behind her. She was going to find Bonnie or Lucy, or whatever witch she could find, and God be damned anyone who tried to stop her.

With that thought, she darted through the trees to head back towards the Camaro.

And when that was when she collided in something that wasn't solid enough to be a tree.

She stumbled back from his chest, catching herself immediately. Maggie looked up and froze at the dark predatory gaze staring back at her. A confident smirk played out on his lips while he cocked his head with interest at her. His hands were stuffed lightly into the pockets of his jacket.

"Well, aren't you quite the firecracker, darling," His voice drawled out the same British accent that gave her chills.

Despite the frantic beating of her heart, she couldn't help the relieved sigh that immediately passed her lips at the sight of him. She had to resist the urge to hug him and run her hands through the windblown locks of hair.

"Kol," Maggie sighed out of his name, immediately forgetting about yelling at Damon only moments ago.

The smirk on Kol's face faltered immediately and disappeared. He blinked at her oddly, really regarding this apparent doppelganger closely.

"I'm sorry," He drew out in a tone the only carried the formality with genuine curiosity. "But have we met before?"

Maggie's shoulders sagged and she opened her mouth, but her throat was dry. She felt thoroughly sick to her stomach, seeing the complete of recognition on Kol's expression. He honestly he had no idea who she was.

"Yes," Maggie barely whispered, the tears starting to form immediately at the corners of her eyes. This couldn't be happening.

Kol's expression set into a thin line as he watched her, trying to decipher the sudden strong emotional reaction from someone he never met before. She looked, for lack of a better term, devastated by his question.

For the first moment, her mind really started to accept what was going on. Kol was looking at her like a complete stranger, and there was a chance that maybe he really was right now. There was a chance he had none of the memories that she did. That was a thought that made her skin absolutely crawl and her want to claw her way out of this horror.

"Stay away from her, Kol," Damon's voice interrupted, the vampire suddenly blurring between the two of them. He pushed one hand behind him at Maggie, to put distance between her and the Original.

"No!" Maggie snapped out, swatting Damon's hand away from her. She couldn't take anyone touching her. She stumbled away from the two, ignoring the perplexed look from the both of them. Kol's was pulled into a more calculating gaze than anything else, his impassive stare making it hard to read what he was thinking.

She couldn't stand here and listen to the two vampires threaten each other again. She can't handle the idea of Kol being a stranger. The words were already too familiar. She couldn't listen to them threat the other, then hear that Kol was on his way out of town but tauntingly promise to see her again.

"Maggie, wait!" Damon called out after her, but she didn't answer him.

She left the two vampires behind and marched towards the Camaro. The first few tears ran down her cheeks when she reached the passenger seat and sank into the seat hopelessly. Her stomach lurched this way and that. If she had eaten anything, it would probably be on the pavement by now, she thought bitterly.

She sank into the seat defeated and leaned her head against her hand on the frame of the door. Seeing the completely blank and impersonal look from Kol was the one that cut her the most. Her heart twisted and broke.

But she couldn't let herself cry now. If she cried now, she would completely break down.

Maggie sniffled and forced herself to calm her breathing down. She wiped her face off on the collar of her shirt. It still reeked of the sweat and blood of running on the road from the walkers. Everything was just too realistic to be some nightmare, Maggie realized.

Several minutes went by and Maggie was silently cursing and blessing Damon for giving her a few moments alone. Her body ached, so much from the emotional turmoil and the physical exhaustion. She rubbed on her eyes, her vision being a little wobbly at best. Perhaps this wasn't the best thing to be doing with a concussion.

She heard the driver's door open and the sound of someone sliding into the seat. Maggie refused to lift her head and look at Damon. She was just exhausted and she knew that she would be getting another round of interrogation for that. She still had to get to the police station and find out what was really going on from one of the witches.

"Damon, whatever lecture you're building up in your mind…" Maggie picked up her head reluctantly, biting out bitterly. "I'm really not in the mood to hear about staying away from…"

Her voice trailed off weakly when she looked towards the driver's seat.

He had one hand placed casually on the top of the steering wheel and the other arm draped over the back of the Camaro seat. He flashed her a confident and amused smirk at her wide eyes.

"Staying away from who, darling?" Kol Mikaelson teased lightly and ominously.

* * *

_Author's Note: Surprise! Kind of a mean cliffy, I know!_

_For those who followed Irish Rose, I know I said I would take some time off but I figured I would start posting this story to help hold over my Kolie fans until Emerald Rage. Like I said before and now you can really see it, this story is going to stray far from the plotline of Irish Rose but it does pick up from chapter six and onwards. So I won't have a definite posting schedule for this story, I'll get to it when I get to it, but the reviews are a huge huge motivator!_

_I know some of you are going to be like, "Maggie, why you freaking out so bad?" but come on, put yourself in her shoes and don't tell me you wouldn't too. And now she's stuck in the Camaro with an emotionless Kol. Let me know what you think! Please please review!_


	2. Chapter 2

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_Chapter Song: _

_Taylor Swift ft. Ed Sheeran – Everything Has Changed_

_Scene: Kol and Maggie – (I think this song is perfect for this pairing for this fic)_

_Chapter Two_

"Damon, whatever lecture you're building up in your mind…" Maggie picked up her head reluctantly, biting out bitterly. "I'm really not in the mood to hear about staying away from…"

Her voice trailed off weakly when she looked towards the driver's seat.

He had one hand placed casually on the top of the steering wheel and the other arm draped over the back of the Camaro seat. He flashed her a confident and amused smirk at her wide eyes.

"Staying away from who, darling?" Kol Mikaelson teased lightly and ominously.

* * *

Maggie swallowed thickly as she stared at Kol, frozen in her seat. He was a strong contrast to her rigid posture, sitting relaxed in the driver's seat as if it was actually his vehicle. She was caught by the dark threatening look in his eyes. The way his lips were curved up into a smirk was familiar, but not in a reassuring way.

"You," She barely responded to him. It only took her a few moments to realize he was looking at her with the façade of confidence, but lacking the underline hint of warmth that he had reserved for her. It dawned on her quickly and rather alarmingly.

This was a Kol with his humanity turned off.

Just like the first day she remembered meeting him, he was looking at her like a fascinating puzzle to be figured out.

"Let's go for a drive, shall we?" He suggested with a smirk. Maggie knew it wasn't really much of a question. She watched him reach into his pocket and quickly produce the keys to the Camaro. She inhaled sharply at that. There was no way that Damon would surrender those to him willingly.

"Where's Damon?" Maggie felt bold enough, even though her tone was quiet. She briefly looked out the windows around, trying to spot Damon as if he would come interfering at any moment.

"Oh, he's indisposed at the moment," Kol announced casually while he put the key in the ignition and the engine rumbled back to life.

"You snapped his neck," Maggie stated her thoughts and the brief knowing flicker from his eyes was her confirmation. She knew him better, it didn't really surprise her, but she still found it rather unnerving. Kol didn't say anything, nor did the smirk fade from his expression, while he put the Camaro into drive.

Maggie bit her lip and blurted out before she could think better of it, "You didn't take his daylight ring too, did you?"

This caused Kol to quirk an eyebrow briefly, pulling his gaze away from the road and back to her. "No, I didn't," He denied, but his expression lit up like a mischievous child just given a good idea. He liked the creativity of this doppelganger.

Seeing that look, Maggie opened her mouth and clamped it shut. She realized maybe she should start being careful with what she said.

Silence lingered between them when Maggie turned her head back to the road, for the first time really looking to see where they were going. Kol was driving the blue sports car away from the downtown area.

"Care to enlighten me on how it is you think we've met before?" Kol's voice interrupted her brief moment of silence. His polite tone was laced with a hint of malice.

Maggie bit her lip, trying to think of how to respond to him. Where to begin? What would he actually believe? She doubt very much as she thought about it. He was a realist and impatient like her. She doubted he would take too well to her story, especially when she was still sorting it out herself.

"Damon told me about you," Maggie tried to keep her voice even, thinking back to the first day she remembered meeting Kol. It wasn't a lie, just a very stretched truth.

Kol was watching her sharply, not entirely convinced that she was being forthcoming. She certainly had an interesting reaction for someone she was only told about, he figured.

"And…" Maggie hesitated, not sure if this would make things worse or better, but she had to try. "I remember seeing you in Chicago," She pointed out. "Before the outbreak hit."

At this, Kol's gaze remained fixated on Maggie, in a dark thoughtful tension. Beneath, she could see a sense of wonder and the gears turning in his mind. Maggie would bet he was trying to recollect what she was referring to. She fought her natural instinct to look away under the intense gaze. He stared at her for so long that she was briefly worried about him paying attention to the road, but it wasn't like there was traffic anyway.

"Fascinating," Kol murmured finally, but mostly to himself and Maggie barely caught it. He turned his attention back to the road.

Maggie eased back in a little in her seat, but she didn't let herself fully relax. While he seemed at ease, she knew that he could snap with the flick of a wrist and just how dangerous he was. And she was only human now, she never thought she would hate that prospect so much before.

"There's one thing about being a vampire I find particularly interesting," Kol declared, seeming to shift the subject with the lighter tone of his voice. "And that's one's ability to hear the heartbeat of their prey."

Maggie really didn't like the way he looked at her at that. She had to remind herself there was no way he couldn't have noticed her scent by now. No, he wouldn't turn her into prey, she reminded herself and held onto that hope.

"Just from the way it beats, we can hear when humans are lying or afraid," Kol stated frankly, lacking any hint of amusement on his features.

Maggie's heart skipped a beat for a moment, wondering if he was calling her out. But no, she didn't actually lie and she was going to stick to that, she told herself. She stubbornly matched his gaze and didn't let herself react to his words.

Kol cocked his head with interest at her though. "You, however, are remarkably calm given the circumstances I must say," Kol decided. He could hear the way her heart was hammering, but her hands weren't shaking. The sweat along her hairline was more from the heat and the exhaustion in her eyes than anything else. His brow furrowed at his observation and he heard the deep inhale afterwards.

"You just kidnapped me from my kidnapper," Maggie said, putting the situation into a different perspective. No matter how long ago it actually was, whether it was a few days ago or a few months ago, Damon still did that very thing and he was protective to the point of controlling and overbearing.

"Which part of that statement am I supposed to be upset with first?" Maggie questioned in a dry tone.

A grin broke out on Kol's lips followed by a deep chuckle, a rumbling from his chest. She hadn't intended on making him laugh, but now that she saw his smile, she wasn't entirely opposed to it. She bit her lip harshly to hide her own reaction.

"You have quite the sharp little tongue, darling," Kol commented lightly while turning down another street. It was neighborhood that Maggie had heard of, but she wasn't very familiar with because she didn't spend much time in it before. For that reason, she started getting really curious to where they were going, but knew better about asking.

"But relax, I'm not going far with you. I was on my way out of town and where I'm going isn't safe for humans," Kol continued on in a serious and casual tone.

Maggie opened her mouth in confusion, wondering what it was that he was doing. He glanced to her and gave a faux innocent shrug of his shoulders to answer the unspoken question. "I just couldn't resist instilling a little unnecessary panic in the Salvatore dog," He explained with a cheeky smirk.

"Oh," was Maggie's feeble response. She gathered he was likely heading outside the county line, where walkers were dangerous for humans. As much as her gut instinct and her heart wanted to remain with Kol, she was a little grateful not to be going outside Mystic Falls.

"That's the only reason you took me?" Maggie had to ask. "Just to annoy Damon?" A little irrational part of her was a bit miffed that was the only impression that she made upon him, because he was everything for her, even if he didn't know it.

"No," Kol corrected without blinking. "You're a doppelganger… typically having a doppelganger is an utterly ordinary experience and legend says meeting yours brings death, especially the supernatural ones. However, one shouting about witches I find particularly fascinating," His lips curled up into a smirk at the last word.

Maggie felt her stomach knot a little tighter, wondering just how much of the conversation with Damon he overheard. She wasn't dead yet, so maybe he didn't hear the part about Rose. She just held onto that hope.

"Doppelgangers are common?" Maggie questioned, trying to steer it away from herself, but also genuinely curious. She had only heard of herself and the Petrova ones.

"Of course, ordinary mortal ones are. Everyone has a doppelganger somewhere at some point in history. Many cultures have myths and rumors if you ever come face to face with your own, then you shall be followed by death," Kol explained with ease while turning down another street. "It's the supernatural ones that are rare and powerful."

Maggie nodded. Huh, that was something she didn't actually know before.

"Have you met yours?" Maggie wondered aloud, realizing that was something she never asked him before. She also realized for the first time how easy it was to talk to him, even with his humanity switched off. The other encounters with him, she had thrown immediate hostility at him, partly because of the impression of him she got from Damon. Now, she wondered how different things could be if she just… didn't.

"Ah, yes actually. It was the middle of the nineteenth century, if I recall. He was quite the queer little thing," Kol's expression scrunched up with distaste. It was one thing to run into a carbon copy of himself, but this one was insufferable. "He wasn't anything like me."

This caused Maggie to quirk a brow, momentarily forgetting the situation around them. "Really? How so?" A grin almost appeared on her lips at his expression.

"He was from Oneida, New York. A part of that community there. He had many wives, or just shared them, I'm still not entirely sure. They were a terribly confusing and delusional lot of people," Kol waved a hand casually over the steering wheel as he spoke. He never got into those free loving and utopian communities. "Anyway, he was a complete pacifist," His expression scrunched up with his disdain at the word, as if it was utterly offensive.

Maggie had to hide a snort and a chuckle behind her hand. It didn't matter, because Kol heard her anyway. He glanced out of the corner of her eye and flashed her a brief smirk. There was something about this woman, he decided, he didn't quite know how to describe it yet, but she was certainly different.

"What happened to him?" Maggie asked, no longer worried about deflecting from herself, but hearing about Kol. For a brief moment, she could pretend that everything wasn't messed up sideways and it was just the two of them talking.

"Oh, I killed him," Kol admitted casually in an obvious tone.

Maggie shook her head and had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes. She imagined almost a thousand years of living would make for a rather conservative upbringing and it would almost be comical imagining Kol trying to cope with free love type people. At the same time, she didn't think that's what the legends had in mind when they meant death would follow doppelgangers.

"But enough jibber jabber about me," Kol declared and Maggie could hear the patience running out in his tone. There was only son long that she could deflect from herself. "What business do you have with witches?"

Maggie delayed in responding to him right away. What could she trust him with? She wanted to trust him with every fiber of her being, but realistic she knew that might not be the best option right now. This Kol was emotionless, he had his own self serving agenda and Maggie wasn't sure if she fit in with that. Well, she probably did, but maybe not in a way that was safe for her too.

"I'm losing it," Maggie admitted honestly, her gaze wandering away to the houses that were passing them by.

Kol's expression sobered up at the unusual hollow tone of her voice and the shift in the small space of the car.

"The life I had last night and the one I woke up with today are nothing alike. I need to find a way to get it back," Maggie decided, her fingers fidgeting anxiously in her lap as she spoke. This Kol didn't remember her, but lord did she wish he would. He still smirked at her like the way she remembered. He had the same knowing glint to his eyes, the confidence of centuries perfected ease, and charm that made it easy to forget this wasn't the same person. "Do you know what that's like?" Maggie had to ask, to feel a little less alone.

"I do," Kol responded to her surprise in a quiet tone. "Frequently actually, thanks to my brother's fancy for daggering his own family."

Maggie met his gaze and held it, hoping the understanding in it wasn't just her imagination. So this is what it felt like to have a lifetime stolen away from you, she realized and wondered just how many times exactly it happened to Kol.

"Here we are," Kol announced solemnly without taking his eyes off Maggie. The Camaro rolled to a halt before he killed the engine.

Maggie frowned and looked out the window to where they stopped. Before them was a dark brown two-story home with white trim. It had a few bay windows in the front and white columns to the porch. There was a row of hedges in front of the porch. It didn't look like anything she was familiar with, but it was quaint.

"What is this place?" Maggie asked while the two of them moved to get out of the car. Kol was swifter than her. She had to take an extra moment and fight off the fresh round of dizziness from all the heat and exertion.

"This is the home of Sheila, the grand-daughter of a powerful witch. If anyone can help you, it'll be the witch here," Kol answered her, coming to stand by Maggie's side, but not walking up the front walkway. He gave a half shrug of his shoulders with a smirk, "It may also help if you tell her that I sent you."

Maggie's eyebrows furrowed thoughtfully, trying to place the familiar sounding name. "You're not coming?" She asked, picking up on his choice of words. She tried to suppress the bubble of disappointment that swelled up inside of her.

Kol shook his head calmly, "No, I must be going."

Maggie nodded reluctantly. As much as she wanted to stay with him, she had to get some answers. Maggie gave Kol one last lingering look. She took in the profile of his face while he sized up the home. Deep down she wanted to reach out to him some way. She wished she could take his hand on hers, never mind kiss him, just receive some reassuring gesture that everything would be okay.

But it wouldn't be.

Kol turned his head, catching the way that Maggie was looking at him. His brow furrowed in another calculating gaze, trying to decipher her. Maggie broke the eye contact, feeling uncomfortable under the scrutiny.

Maggie took two steps towards the house, steadying her shoulders.

"Tell me," Kol's voice stopped her, causing Maggie to turn back to him. He strode towards her slowly and carefully, like a panther on the prowl. "Does such a little fox with a sharp tongue have a name?"

Maggie cocked her head slightly at the playful, admittedly charming, smirk on his face, especially the way his eyes passed over her. It was then she realized that throughout their entire conversation, she had never told him her name.

"You know it already, you heard Damon," Maggie pointed out with a quirk brow.

"Yes, but I haven't heard it from your lips," Kol replied effortlessly, the smile not faulting for a moment.

A blush rose up on Maggie's cheeks, which she could do nothing to hide. She knew that part of this was just his predatory nature, but she couldn't help the flutter in her stomach anyway. Maggie shifted on her feet and bit her lip a moment. She could just tell him, but she didn't want to make it that easy.

A smirk grew on Maggie's lips at that thought. "Then you're going to have to come back and ask me for it another day," She responded teasingly, looking up at Kol and the way he towered over her.

His eyes widened at the challenge, but the smirk didn't fade away in the least.

Maggie went to take a step back away from him tauntingly, but she was stopped when a hand reached out to snatch one of hers. Carefully, she watched him raise her hand up towards his face. Even if she tried to pull it away, it wouldn't budge from his grip. For a brief moment, Maggie had a flash of being cornered in the Grill by him. But the glint in his eyes wasn't quite right.

His lips brushed against the back of her knuckles. Maggie felt the heat rising in her cheeks even more at the way his eyes never left her throughout the intimate and slow gesture.

Kol pulled her hand away just enough to whisper to her. "Another day it will be, mala lisica," He promised before finally releasing her hand. He smirked at the way he could hear her heart just about hammering out of her chest. He took one step back away from her before he was suddenly gone in the blink of an eye.

Maggie let out a shaky exhale while looking around, her human eyes failing to see where that he disappeared to. Damn, she had to hand it to him.

For several moments, Maggie was left standing alone in the walkway. She ran a hand wearily through her hair. A different lifetime or not, Kol still had a presence like no other.

The silence of the neighborhood reminded Maggie that she had to get moving. The street was largely empty, only the distant birds being heard. It was a little unnerving for Maggie, having adjusted to having heightened senses, now it felt like everything was duller.

Maggie turned and closed the rest of the distance of the walkway to the front porch. Her boots echoed off the wood before she stepped on a welcome mat. The bright colors were long since faded and smeared by mud. She raised her fist and knocked on the door a few times.

When the door opened, Maggie was a little taken back by the witch it revealed. She had long black hair, which was straightened save for the asymmetrical bangs that had a slight curl to them. She had warm brown eyes that could carry an air of deviance if given the moment. She had on a pair of casual jeans, a cream colored top with a light tan leather jacket over it.

"Can I help you?" She asked politely, but a little suspicious at Maggie's rather frazzled appearance. She still had the same black grubby outfit from when Damon kidnapped her.

"Uh, hi… Lucy," Maggie blinked, definitely not expecting this to be the witch Kol was referring to. She cleared her throat, trying to recover and pretend she just hadn't recognized her immediately, "It is Lucy, right?"

"Yes, and you are?" Lucy inclined her head slightly at the unexpected visitor.

"Maggie," She offered out her hand immediately to the witch. The witch only hesitated a moment before taking her hand. There was a slight pause and odd look in her eye before Lucy shook her hand. "I was told that you could help me?"

"Huh," Lucy hummed out, dropping Maggie hand while looking at the peculiar woman. "Why don't you come inside?"

* * *

Maggie sat in the front living of the home on the couch in front of the bay window. Lucy walked back into the room with two mugs in her hands. Maggie sat, leaning forward her elbows on her knees and watched the confident sway of the older woman.

"Here, I just made a pot up before you came," Lucy held the tea out towards Maggie politely.

"Thanks," Maggie accepted the offering. She was grateful to find the tea was actually cold, instead of hot on the summer day. She raised it up towards her lips and was about to take a sip when she paused, taking in a scent of the liquid. It burned her nostrils.

"Oh," Maggie lowered it from her mouth, looking up at Lucy apprehensively. "Do you have anything without vervain in it?"

Lucy raised an eyebrow curiously at her. "Sure, I have some bottled water from the last supply run," She explained quickly, taking back the mug before disappearing from the room.

In her absence, Maggie anxiously ran her hands against the top of her jeans. Part of that was just to make sure she was sitting up right. Her head was pounding, it felt like she could feel each heartbeat reverberating in her skull. She was grateful for the dimmer lights of the house, because her vision was strained. She knew standing up from the couch again would be a taxing later.

She took the moments to look around the home and ignore the building pressure she felt around, or rather behind her eyes. She rolled her neck, trying to get rid of some of the stiffness in response. In the living room, she spotted a shelf containing several house plants. At least, they looked like an herb garden, but she noticed they didn't have the same sort of plants that average housewife had. There was no parsley or basil in that arrangement.

The bookshelf had an equally eclectic collection of texts. Almost none of the spines had English words on them and most of them were faded, made of a heavy animal hide binding. It took a moment for Maggie to realize they were likely a collection of grimoires.

Lucy walked back into the room, one hand having replaced the mug with a bottle of water. She held it out to Maggie and the doppelganger accepted it gratefully. She was glad to see the seal wasn't broken on it before she ripped it open.

Maggie took a few careful sips while Lucy sat in a simple arm chair arranged next to the end of the couch that Maggie sat on.

"So you're human, but you can smell vervain," Lucy declared her observation with the obvious question in her tone.

Maggie nodded calmly, adding on after setting the water bottle down on the coffee table in front of the couch, "And it burns me like a vampire."

Lucy quirked an eyebrow at that, "Well then, you're just full of curiosities, aren't you?"

"You have no idea," Maggie admitted in a tired sigh of breath, a little more honestly than she meant to.

A chuckle sounded from Lucy briefly. Silence lingered between them after that and Maggie couldn't hear the faint clicking of the grandfather clock in the other room, but she could catch a glimpse of it through the entryway. The pressure in her head was really starting to become unbearable, but she couldn't dwell on that now.

"Why have you come here for help?" Lucy finally asked bluntly. Odd curiosity or not, she wanted to know why Maggie showed up on her doorstep and not someone else's.

"Kol brought me here," Maggie just admitted, having no other excuse and tossing her hands lightly in the air before gathering them in her lap.

"Really?" Lucy sounded dubious and a bit surprised, her eyes briefly flickered towards the bay window. "In Damon's car?" Despite that, Maggie noticed a shift in her demeanor, she sat a little more upright in her seat and her shoulders eased up.

"Yeah, he stole it… and me, I guess," Maggie reached up and rubbed a hand against the back of her neck as she spoke, trying to get rid of the stiffness again.

Lucy chuckled and took another sip of her tea. "That sounds like Kol," She commented with a smirk appearing on her face again.

Maggie returned it politely and momentarily, but otherwise remained uncomfortably quiet.

"I'm just a little confused," Maggie finally blurted out the thought that had been bothering her since Lucy answered the door. "Kol said that this was Sheila's home, the granddaughter of a powerful witch…"

Lucy nodded with a knowing look. "That would be me," She agreed casually, amused by Maggie's perplexing.

Maggie stopped, giving Lucy an odd and hesitant look. She pointed a finger lightly in her direction while asking to make sure she was really understanding this, "Wait… so Bonnie Bennett is your great great-granddaughter, not your cousin?"

Lucy grinned and nodded once more. "Distant hardly seen cousin makes for a better cover story," She admitted lightly.

Maggie blinked, struggling to keep her jaw from dropping. "But you…" She shook her head, wondering how the woman, who looked no older than her 30's could possibly suggest such a history.

"Look young for two hundred and twenty-three I hope?" Lucy filled in the words for her with a Chesire grin.

"Two hundred and twenty-three!" Maggie nearly choked on her own tongue. "Wow, I mean… How?"

"It's not immortality spell, just an escape from aging," Lucy gave a shrug of her shoulders. It wasn't fool proof. She didn't have the immortality that vampires did and she was okay with that because of it's cost. "It's a spell I perfected a long time ago and taught a few other servants of nature. Have you ever been to Gloria's in Chicago?"

Maggie shook her head, but the name sounded a little familiar to her. She couldn't quite place it as the infamous longstanding bar in Chicago.

"Anyway, it's not a common practice since it's taxing, but it has been evident throughout history," Lucy gave a hand dismissively.

"You must be quite powerful after practicing that long," Maggie pointed out, truly beginning to appreciate now why Kol sent her in this direction. She knew that Kol didn't do for it an entirely selfless reason either. He probably wanted to find out what Maggie was up to as well.

Lucy's expression sobered up at that, her eyes taking a darker light to them that Maggie didn't understand. "Everything comes with a price," Lucy said before sighing and shaking that thought from her head. "It's not something I like to advertise anyway."

"Why not?" Maggie's curiosity got the best of her. She didn't see what was wrong with being powerful and respected.

"Exceeding reputations breed trouble and harm," Lucy warned her. She didn't survive all these centuries by sticking her neck out there all the time and letting herself be available for manipulation. Sure, she had shortcomings and moments of weakness, but so far nothing on a grandiose scale.

Maggie frowned slightly, but remained quiet, choosing not to disagree with that logic.

"But let's address what you've come to me for instead," Lucy suggested instead, shaking the ominous tone from her voice. "Kol wouldn't have sent you here on a simple whim."

"I'm honestly not even sure where to begin," Maggie admitted in a sheepish tone. Feeling the gaze of the witch on her, it came to her that even with the brief encounters from before, Lucy was largely a mystery and a stranger to her. She knew she was somehow involved with Kol in the past and now it made sense how that was possible, but that was about it.

"Let me see," Lucy suggested, more like demanded, her hands open palmed before her.

"Excuse me?" Maggie blinked.

"Let me see your hands," Lucy requested, giving a nod towards their hands.

"Okay," Maggie gave in uncertainly. She reached forward with her hands and placed them in the witch's, which felt cool to the touch. Lucy's fingers wrapped around them to hold them in place while she closed her eyes.

For several minutes, the witch was quiet, which Maggie found unnerving. She could see small twitches in her facial expression, but otherwise she said and did nothing. A shiver ran up Maggie's forearms, causing the hair to stand on end and she wasn't sure if that was from Lucy's touch or something else that she was doing.

"Hmm… Mhmm," Lucy hummed out thoughtfully after a while, which made Maggie more impatient and curious to what was going on. Could she really read that much from her hands? She thought that was part of hooky tarot card games and such.

"I see," Lucy murmured, like if the hands were actually saying something to her. Maggie shook her head slightly in disbelief.

Finally, Lucy opened her eyes with a knowing grin forming on her lips. She released Maggie's hands and the doppelganger pulled them quickly back into her lap.

"You've been doing some traveling, girl," Lucy stated while Maggie rubbed her hands together, looking at the witch apprehensively. "And I don't mean the cross-country roadtrip with the family type of traveling."

"What do you mean?" Maggie was almost afraid to ask, but intrigued by the confident expression on the witch.

"I sensed some very old, and quite powerful I might add, traces of magic on you," Lucy explained honestly and then cocked her head slightly at Maggie, studying her with renewed interest, "Something traumatic must have happened to have brought you here?"

Images of that night flashed in her mind.

First it was feeding from Kol, while everyone else waited downstairs and his touch against her cheek.

Then the small squeeze on her knee and the sly smirk from him as they sat around playing the card game, waiting for Katherine to awake.

Last, was the memory of Klaus coming at her and driving the stake into her chest.

"I died last night," Maggie vocalized the truth that seemed too surreal to really appreciate, but it was there.

"Huh," Lucy huffed out, her expression pulled into a thoughtful one. "No offense, but dying isn't exactly a unique experience."

Maggie's eyebrows rose a little at her bluntness.

"Which makes me wonder, what makes you so special then," Lucy's eyes narrowed at her contemplatively, the scrutiny causing Maggie to shift uncomfortably in her seat.

"I'm not sure if I should say," Maggie shook her head, drawing out the words carefully. She knew exactly what lead up to her death and how it had come to be, but she wasn't sure if the cause behind it would be a good thing to just tell anyone. Especially considering she wasn't sure if she could trust Lucy.

"You already know what it is?" Lucy quirked an eyebrow.

Maggie simply nodded, neither smiling nor frowning.

Lucy splayed her fingers across her chin as she thought it over. "Just how big of deal are we talking about here?" Lucy wondered. It itched at her curiosity to know what exactly it was, but she could tell she wasn't going to get it from Maggie.

Maggie inclined her head a little as a shrug. A cure for vampirism being at stake, aside from her own life. She would say that was a pretty big deal, as Lucy put it.

"Bigger than the bickering of Mystic Falls and too big to be trusted with just anyone," Maggie finally declared.

Lucy pressed her lips together and bit the inside of her cheek a moment before letting out a sigh. "Okay," She said, leaning back in her seat and letting her hands drop to the armrest of the chair.

"Okay?" Maggie repeated dubiously, expecting a little more persistence than that.

Lucy tossed one hand in the air casually, "I haven't survived as long as I have by getting hung up on petty differences between witches and vampires or sticking my nose where it doesn't belong." Her frankness came more out of an instinct to watch out for herself, a quality not too far from Maggie or Kol.

Maggie just nodded numbly, thinking that was a line of logic that she could respect.

"What can you tell me about this magic?" Maggie asked, getting back to the main point.

Lucy reached forward to take a sip of her tea. "You have must have done something remarkable to gain the favor of the Spirits, that's for sure."

Maggie frowned, her mind drew up a blank at the moment, but she figured that was something she could think about later. "How so?"

"Instead of letting you pass when you died, the Spirits choose to intervene. Use a loophole, or however you want to put it, and reset things to a time where your death wasn't guaranteed," Lucy explained.

Maggie's expression scrunched up, not entirely sure if she was understanding what she was really saying or wanted. "You mean time-travel," Maggie reiterated, "That's an actual thing?"

Lucy smirked slightly at her reaction and responded without blinking, "Why not? Vampires, witches and ghosts are a thing."

She cleared her throat, seeing that Maggie wasn't exactly or even remotely sold on the idea. "I'll admit, I've only heard rumors of it over time. But it's there, and how else would you really know about it unless you experienced it or someone came forward like you have?"

Maggie shook her head, but she didn't disagree with the witch. She didn't want to believe it, but how else could she explain waking up like this and the things playing out they have? Especially the ones so eerily similar to the past, or rather present now.

"There's another thing," Lucy interrupted her thoughts. "For this to work, there must be anchor or a hold."

"An anchor?" Maggie doubted she was referring to ships.

"Yes, there has to be a constant between the universe you just left and the one you're in now. Something to tie the two together for the spell to really work," Lucy pointed from her left to right as she spoke, emphasizing the difference of the two and the disconnect. "Something had to occur at this point in time to anchor you here specifically, instead of just any other day or place."

Maggie's head began to spin even more. The pressure was building in her head, making the throbbing pain even worse. Just thinking about the idea of different universes and time travel was overwhelming, to put it lightly. It made sense in some ways, but it didn't at the same time.

"But nothing about this day has been the same as I remember," Maggie disagreed. Last time, she had tried to attack Damon and he took her downtown where he burned himself in the sun and they ran into Caroline.

Lucy just shrugged her shoulders, "It had to be something, it wouldn't work without an anchor."

Maggie ducked her head down, grasping at her temples with her fingertips. "Okay, regardless of whatever this anchor is, what do I have to do to get back?" She sighed out, she was tired of trying to understand this and was beyond caring. She just wanted to go home, back to her family and back to her mate.

Lucy didn't respond to her, instead choosing to hide her lips behind the pale pastel ceramic of her cup.

The silence caused Maggie's stomach to twist into another knot. Slowly, she looked up from her hands, pulling the curtain of brown hair back from her face. "There is… a way to get back, right?" Maggie's voice didn't carry as much hope as she wanted, the solemn expression from Lucy instilling a sense of dread.

Lucy shook her head.

"There's nothing for you to go back to. You died, the life you had is gone and because of the changes happening now, it won't happen again," Despite the harshness of her words, there was an expression of genuine sympathy in Lucy's tone, especially seeing the way Maggie's face began to twist in anguish.

"You died, and for whatever reason the Spirits gave you a second chance. The only thing you can do now is make the best of it," Lucy added on.

The pain cut through her, through her chest and up her neck to her head. Maggie's face fell into her hands once more. She took in a ragged breath, which sounded muddled to herself. Everything just wasn't quite there, like she was submerged under water. She wasn't sure if it was her senses going numb or her mind shutting down in denial.

Either way, it cumulated with the realization that she would never see her family as how she remembered. She wouldn't have those mornings, waking up to Kol's breath tickling her skin and his hands teasing her. Those few weeks of happiness she fought for were gone in the matter of seconds.

The pressure built until she swore she felt it pop, just too much to handle, to be replaced with even more sharp pain. Maggie was hardly aware of the first few sobs that escaped her lips. She picked up her head wearily realizing that she was about to break down into full tears in this stranger's living room.

Lucy didn't look offended however, she just watched the doppelganger with sorrowful eyes, unable to offer any more comfort than the truth of her words.

Lucy's expression morphed into sudden alarm and concern. "Maggie," She drew her attention just from her tone of voice as she brushed a few fingertips against her upper lip. "You're bleeding."

"What?" Maggie blurted out, instinctively wiping a hand under her nose at the gesture. She pulled it away and froze at the sight of red blood smeared across her fingertips. She rarely ever got nose bleeds.

"And your ears," Lucy touched the right side of her face with increasing concern.

Maggie's other hand went up immediately and came away with more blood on her fingertips, now coating both hands. Now she understood that underwater feeling in her ears was actually blood filling them. She could feel it the warm liquid starting to roll out of her ear and down the side of her neck.

Her hands began to visibly shake. "What's wrong with me?" She asked weakly, knowing this was serious and she had to get help.

Lucy just shook her head, unsure of what to do. She was a witch, not a doctor.

Maggie had to get out of there and now. She rose up to her feet, perhaps a little too quickly.

"Careful!" Lucy warned her, trying to match her movements.

Her knees wobbled and Maggie wasn't really listening. She blinked and struggled to follow the horizon of the floor. It kept moving as she stood up, rising up past her knees and her waist, until it finally came up towards her face.

* * *

A constant, but rather irritating beep started to bring her around. It seemed to screech against her senses, begging for her to wake up, but rhythmic enough to put the weary to sleep. A groan passed her lips while Maggie began to stir. Her eyes were reluctant to open, feeling bright lights on them and her body aching with weariness.

Her nose itched, rather uncomfortably. She scrunched it up to get rid of the sensation and then discovered the plastic tube around her face. Opening her eyes, Maggie winced against the contrast of the dim room she was in previously. The beeping noise continued and she realized it was a heart rate monitor, mounted on the wall next to her.

The plastic tube running around her face ran oxygen to her. She lifted one hand, seeing the faint light from the heart rate monitor on her finger. More concerning was the pair of handcuffs around her wrist that chained her to the bed railing. Without looking under the white blanket, she could feel another on her opposite ankle.

Clearly she wasn't going anywhere.

She looked down at her right forearm and cringed at the needle protruding from it. Following the line up to the IV bag, she saw a clear fluid in it. She didn't know what it was and she didn't like for precisely that reason. Reactively, she reached towards the needle with her other hand, intending on getting rid of it.

"Relax, it's just fluids," A voice stopped her. Looking up, Maggie spotted a petite brunette sitting at the counter on the other side of the room on a rolling stool. She had a clip board, filling out information while her hair was pulling up into a messy bun and wearing a white coat. "And if you rip it out, I'll just have to call the nurse back to put in another IV."

Maggie slowly pulled her hand away from her arm, easing back against the raised back of the bed. Her eyes flickered around the room. Because of the faint floral print gown she was now wearing and the nature of the rest of her surroundings, it didn't take more than two functioning brain cells to figure out where she was.

"What happened?" Maggie's voice came out hoarse than she was expecting.

"I'm Dr. Fell," The woman introduced herself, which of course Maggie remembered her, as she put her pen down and rose up from her seat. She came to stand by the bedside. "Lucy Bennett brought you to the hospital after you collapsed at Sheila Bennett's home. Do you remember that?"

Maggie gave a faint nod.

"You've been out for a couple hours and we ran a few tests, but there's nothing to worry about. You had a simple linear skull fracture on top of a concussion, dehydration and some malnutrition. So we're going to keep you here for a few days for observation but you should be fine to go home soon," Meredith rattled off the diagnosis with each, her words and phrasings probably having been spoken hundreds of times, but she still managed a sympathetic smile.

Honestly, Maggie heard two words and the rest were lost on her. She couldn't get past them.

"Had a skull fracture?" Maggie repeated, straining her voice. That sounded a lot more serious than a bad headache. "What do you mean _had_? How is that possible, fractures don't just heal in the matter…" Maggie's voice trailed when it dawned on her.

Meredith's grip on her clipboard tightened, causing her knuckles to whiten.

"You gave me vampire blood," Maggie accused. It was the only explanation for how she could even be remotely alert and coherent right now. Even the pressure in her head had subsided.

Meredith opened her mouth, but didn't say anything. She visibly shifted uncomfortably on her feet.

"Who's blood did you give me?" Maggie rose up from the back of the bed. A part of her prayed that it wasn't Damon's. She didn't need to make things any more complicated by having his blood in her system.

"I didn't have any other option," Meredith changed to a plea, throwing a hand in the air defensively. That hand went up to push stray hairs out of her face in agitation.

"Lucy was barely able to keep you stable when you came in," Meredith explained the truth instead. "There was swelling and bleeding on the brain, it was more than a simple fracture. It was either the vampire blood or operate, which is risky at best and the hospital is short on steroids and antibiotics. Even if you survived the surgery, the chances for infection are really high."

Maggie sagged back against the bed, the irritation being replaced by numb shock, hardly believing what she was hearing. "You're telling me I almost died from a simple fall?"

Meredith inhaled deeply, hesitating before responding because she didn't actually know the back story to Maggie's injury. Finally, she just nodded and admitted in a matter-of-fact manner, "Some areas of the skull it only takes as much as five pounds of pressure to break it."

Maggie absently rubbed a hand against her head, feeling where the lump of swelling had been. It had gone down significantly, the vampire blood was definitely working.

"But who's blood did you give me? Please tell me it's not Damon's," Maggie questioned, not letting the subject drop.

Meredith shook her head, struggling again. Maggie could probably see her weighing confidentially and ethics in her mind. "No, I had to use something older, more powerful to heal quicker," Dr. Fell answered her vaguely, recalling the touch and go hour of Maggie's first arrival.

"_Who'_s blood, Dr. Fell? I deserve to know who's blood you gave me!" Maggie had to keep herself from shouting. The beeping on the heart rate monitor started to pick up.

Meredith bit her lip, not flinching under Maggie's hostility. She had dealt with much more aggressive patients and even the Salvatore in question. But deep down, she sympathized with Maggie's distress and the idea of waking up in a foreign place without even being aware of how much her life had been in danger.

Meredith gave a reluctant sigh before looking up from her clipboard and admitting quietly, "Elijah Mikaelson."

Maggie frowned, taken back. The clenched fist she had been aware of that she had, slowly eased up as that sank in. That certainly wasn't the Original she was expecting when she suggested an older vampire.

But given what she knew from before, it made sense now. At least it wasn't Damon's blood, but she wasn't sure how she felt about having Elijah's and likely without him knowing.

Meredith took her deflated compliance as cooperation. "Like I said, you'll only be here for a few days for observation," She tried to sound reassuring.

"You mean, to make sure I don't die and turn into a vampire," Maggie spat out, looking down at her hands and not the doctor. She knew bullshit when someone was trying to tell her otherwise.

"Well, there's that and your recovery," Dr. Fell didn't react to her words. "The vampire blood did heal the damage, but your body still needs help."

The doctor launched into an explanation of malnutrition and the dangers of overeating after being deprived for so long. They would have to watch her portion controls and make sure she got the necessary vitamins and nutrients. Honestly, Maggie wasn't really listening to her all that closely. She just nodded along and quietly sat through the doctor's explanation.

By the time she was done, Dr. Fell had the stool pulled up beside the bed. She asked her a few questions about her medical history, writing down some of the facts like her allergy to penicillin among others.

"That'll be all for now," Dr. Fell announced, clipping the pen back into place. She gave a careful glance towards the doorway of the room. "I should probably radio Damon that you're awake now."

Maggie followed her gaze and for the first time noticed the silhouette of someone standing outside the door through the blinds of the patient window. It wasn't Damon though. She could clearly make out the lines of a police uniform. It was one of Sheriff Forbes' officers standing guard outside the door.

Maggie nearly snorted. Damon must think she's completely deranged by this point and probably one of the patients at the prison he found her at. At the same time, she was much too tired to be dealing with him and trying to come up with an explanation for her actions.

"Do you have to?" Maggie's question came out as a weak plea.

Meredith stood up with fidgeted with her papers a moment. The exhaustion was obvious on Maggie's face and she really did need to rest. Calm and collected just didn't happen around Damon and she didn't blame her. The doctor wasn't a fan of Damon being her emergency contact, but it wasn't like she had next of kin around.

"Or, I could radio Sheriff Forbes?" Meredith suggested as the idea came to her.

Maggie considered it for a moment. If there was anyone that would stick to the facts of the situation and not bother to ask her about her feelings, it would be the Sheriff. "Please," Maggie agreed.

The doctor gave a nod and took a moment to jot down her current vitals before slipping from the room.

For the first time, Maggie was left alone, staring up at the speckled ceiling tiles and listening to the taunting beep of the heart rate monitor.

Another reminder of just how weak and human she had become, as if lying wasted in a hospital bed wasn't enough. It mocked her how quickly she had gone from being a powerful vampire with her family and the promise of everything she wanted, to being left with this.

* * *

_Author's note: Kolie!_

_I had a slow day at work so I wrote this up. (It's almost like getting paid to write, haha!) That being said, I've also started a Tumblr for Irish Rose updates and teasers, so if you're on there you should check it out. I have the same name there and the blog is called Irish Rose. _

_Anyway, I just wanted to say I'm blown away at the response to the first chapter. It was amazing to see so many regulars from Irish Rose back! Thank you so much for coming back and shouting out at me. _

_Now this chapter, how about that Kolie, huh? Let me hear your thoughts and theories on Maggie's conversation with Lucy! I took a lot of liberties with her character, partly because Plec never developed her, and I thought it would be good to have a character a little older to fill in some of the significant age gaps of the supernatural creatures in TVD. She'll continue to be developed. Let me know what you think of this!  
_

_Review responses –_

_Eby Mikaelson: Haha, I'm glad you love this story and your caps lock!_

_M: Yeah it's not going to get any easier for Maggie (As if ending up the hospital wasn't obvious enough). Poor girl. But yes, she is not a vampire and definitely human right now. We'll see what else that may or may not include though. ;) And you called it with the Chicago bit, I was actually planning on including that this chapter hah!_

_I'm honestly ballparking this story because I don't have a rigidly planned storyline like I do with other stories. I have a few key points in mind, but some of it I'm just letting it play out in my head as it goes. So I'm going to estimate around 15 chapters, maybe more depending on how it goes. _

_Guest: Thank you so much for the awesome words and review. And I think it would be a heck of a challenge for Maggie to try to convince Kol she knows him. At least right now she recognizes that he's extremely dangerous without his humanity and particularly not having any emotional tie to her. But we'll see how that changes and develops. ;)_

_Kellie: Thank you! I hope this chapter is just as interesting for you._

_Nynaeve55: It's so good to hear from you! I hope the preparations for the bar exam is going well and you're at least getting some rest and relaxation in every now and then. _

_I'm so glad you got that vibe from this chapter. It's always very difficult to write such emotionally straining situations. This chapter and especially next chapter we'll see just how far Maggie falls emotionally before she's able to start pulling it together and dealing with it. _

_I hope the skull fracture was realistic this chapter. I tried to incorporate the little details of the symptoms without making it blaringly obvious throughout the chapter until she collapsed. I'm also no med student, so I hope it's accurate. _

_I'm curious to hear what you think about Maggie and Kol's scene this chapter! I wrote while listening to the song I posted in the beginning of this chapter and I think it fits perfectly, especially with their little goodbye. _

_Anyway, thank you for the reviews and please keep them coming! It makes a boring day at work so much better, you have no idea!_


	3. Chapter 3

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_**Note: There are several uses of medical terms in this chapter. I am not a doctor, my knowledge comes from my obsession with House M.D. so please excuse any medical inaccuracies if there are any.**_

_Chapter Song: _

_The Band Perry – If I Die Young_

_Scenes: Maggie_

_Chapter Three_

The doctor gave a nod and took a moment to jot down her current vitals before slipping from the room.

For the first time, Maggie was left alone, staring up at the speckled ceiling tiles and listening to the taunting beep of the heart rate monitor.

Another reminder of just how weak and human she had become, as if lying wasted in a hospital bed wasn't enough. It mocked her how quickly she had gone from being a powerful vampire with her family and the promise of everything she wanted, to being left with this.

* * *

"Would you stop that already?" Rebekah huffed out in irritation, half mind to reach over and smack him herself. It would almost be worth the risk of him crashing the SUV as a result.

"Stop what?" Kol drawled out, only half paying attention while his hand passed over his chest before tugging at his collar briefly. The fabric just wasn't sitting right against his skin today.

"That scratching!" Rebekah waved a hand towards him indignantly while sitting in the passenger seat of the large black vehicle. They were rolling up the hill towards the massive expanse of the Mikaelson mansion.

This time Kol took his eyes off the road to look at Rebekah oddly. "Huh?"

"You've been scratching incessantly for the past hour. I can hear that, you know!" Rebekah snapped out while Kol shifted in his seat, fidgeting uncomfortably.

Kol stopped, catching his fingers under the collar of his shirt again. Now that she pointed it out, he had been rather jumpy the past two days. He couldn't shake this underline feeling of anxiety since he left Mystic Falls and it was starting to drive him crazy that he had no idea where it was coming from.

"Oh," Kol simply mumbled, dropping his hand down to the door handle, trying to force himself to stop.

Rebekah just frowned and looked at him incredulously.

"Perhaps, sister," Kol drawled out, recovering his usual witty attitude. "After a millennium, I've actually developed a legitimate allergy to you."

Rebekah rolled her eyes as the SUV pulled into the driveway. She didn't bother firing back at him, because she was more curious at his delayed response. There was something about him that had just been off lately.

The SUV came to a stop in front of the Mikaelson mansion. Kol had the door open and was climbing out before the engine was even shut off. Rebekah shook her head when she got out of the car and noticed that Kol wasn't walking towards the front doors.

"Where are you going?" Rebekah questioned, having to raise her voice a bit as he continued to walk away from her.

Kol turned over his shoulder to smirk at her, "I'm off to see this leggy brunette with wonderful hips and –"

"Ugh!" Rebekah's expression scrunched up in disgust and she turned away, not wanting to hear the rest.

Kol just grinned and kept going.

The brunette he had in mind might be able to tell him what was wrong with him. And he could find out what happened to that doppelganger.

* * *

Maggie only had about an hour of alone time before Damon showed up at the hospital. Truthfully, she wasn't sure if the time alone was for the best or worst. She was grateful to not be around anyone she had to censor her thoughts and words, being careful of her position. But because of that reason, she never felt more alone. Here she was lying, weak and exhausted in a hospital bed, feeling like she did not belong in this place.

She heard Lucy, what she said about there being nothing to go back to, but she didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe this was her only choice and remaining reality.

There was a brief knock at the patient room door, snapping Maggie out of her thoughts before it opened. She picked her gaze up from the IV in her arm to see Sheriff Forbes stepping into the room, followed shortly by Damon in his usual black leather attire.

Maggie had to fight the urge to groan. Of course, she should have known that Damon would be hanging around Sheriff Forbes.

"Hello Ms. Greene," Liz spoke up right away, dressed in her uniform and clearly still on duty. She stepped up to the side of Maggie's bed and held her hand out to her, "I'm Sheriff Forbes."

"Maggie, please," The doppelganger hesitated a moment before shaking her hand, feeling odd to be reintroducing herself to the woman.

"Right," Liz nodded and gave a glance back to Damon briefly, who hung back a little bit but otherwise didn't appear to be going anywhere. "How are you feeling?"

"Better," Maggie stated dryly, having to force herself to show a little respect and not snap at the ridiculousness of the question.

Liz nodded stiffly, glancing over the young woman.

Maggie refused to look over at Damon during the momentary tense silence in the room.

"Listen," Liz cleared her throat before continuing, "I know you didn't arrive in Mystic Falls under the most ideal circumstances." She gave a glance towards Damon at that, who just shrugged indifferently. "But if there's anything I can do, let me know."

The guilt was obvious in the Sheriff's tone and Maggie figured that Damon must have straightened out some of the facts. She certainly wasn't acting like she was a vampire and a threat like she last saw Liz in the Grill.

Maggie nodded numbly, knowing it was more of a formality extended because of her position than anything else. "My family," Maggie blurted out with a sudden hopeful tone.

"My family is still out there," Maggie tried to sit a little more upright on the bed.

Liz inhaled sharply, steading her shoulders and gave an apprehensive glance back towards the vampire. "Damon told me about them… But I'm not sure there's anything I can do."

Maggie shook her head, "What do you mean? They're in Georgia. West Georgia Correctional Facility. There are eight of them," Maggie rattled off quickly, if there was anyone that could help them without an ulterior motive it would be Sheriff Forbes.

"I know," Liz nodded long, averting her gaze with her hands on her hips.

Maggie didn't understand. The Council was always willing to help people before, from what she remembered.

Seeing Maggie's increasing distress, Damon chose then to step forward, raising a casual hand. "Hey, it's fine. I know a guy that can go get them," He smirked slightly.

"A guy?" Maggie scoffed while her stomach knotted in an instant. She tried to ignore the voice taunting in the back of her head, whispering to her that his guy was actually Klaus. She couldn't let that happen. She couldn't stand to relive the night at the boardinghouse watching Carol get her neck snapped.

"But don't you have a whole bunch of officers that could help?" Maggie turned back to Sheriff Forbes to reason with her. "Instead of some guy."

Liz sighed, obviously torn with the woman's plight. She genuinely wanted to help Maggie, but she had Mystic Falls to consider first and foremost.

"Georgia is very far away, Maggie," Liz explained reluctantly. "I'm not sure if we can spare the resources and it's very dangerous." Liz shook her head, this was several states away they were talking about. So many things could go wrong. All it took was bad time and running into one herd, her officers would be dead.

"No," Maggie pleaded feeling a bit helpless from her position in the hospital bed. "I can show them where to go," She tried to defend, willing to show the route on a map right and then there if she had to.

"It's fine, Maggie," Damon stepped into the conversation again, more assertively this time. "The guy I know can get them here quicker and safer, no big deal."

"No!" Maggie snapped, her voice rising to a sudden shout. "It's not fine, Damon. _Nothing_ is fine."

Maggie opened her eyes, realizing they were clenched shut as were the tight fists by her side. She looked up to see Sheriff Forbes had taken a step back at her sudden outburst. Even Damon seemed a bit stunned at her reaction. Damon rolled his tongue in his mouth before locking his jaw, staring back at Maggie while trying to control his response. Everything about her seemed explosive and not necessarily in a good way.

Liz glanced between the two of them, all of the sudden getting the sense it was about more than just Maggie's family.

"I'll give you two a minute," Liz declared firmly, not wanting to get in between any personal dispute.

Maggie took a deep breath, in an attempt to calm down while Liz gave Damon a final nod and stepped out of the room. It didn't work.

Damon stepped forward to the side of the bed, placing his hands against the side railing and waited for the door to shut behind the sheriff.

A small part of her felt bad for lashing out at him, but she didn't know what else to do or how else to handle this. The idea of facing Klaus right now was too much.

"I get it," Damon declared, finally looking up at Maggie in a tight and controlled expression. "You're upset I took you, but I can get your family back here." It wasn't that he overly cared about them, but he just wanted to get her to calm down and stop fighting him.

"No, you don't get it, Damon," Maggie corrected him harshly, shaking her head. "You think you get it, but you _just don't_." She had to refrain from adding on 'always', the frustrations of the past and present experiences bubbling to the surface.

Damon jerked his head back slightly, taken back at the intensity of her words.

"You think you're protecting me, but look around you Damon. Don't you see it?" Maggie waved an exasperated hand in the air, feeling her shoulders shaking. "I had a skull fracture, bleeding on the brain because of what you've done. And your brilliant idea was to just get some fresh air! I nearly died!" Angry tears threatened to cloud her vision as she glared at him.

Damon opened his mouth to protest, but Maggie didn't give him the chance. It wasn't like he was a doctor, he thought, how was he supposed to know?

"You just need to stop, Damon!" Maggie continued on, slamming a frustrated fist down by her side, thinking of how everything had gone wrong because of what he had done. "I don't want it. I don't need it. You need to stop trying to protect me because honestly I don't think I'm going to survive your next attempt."

The oppressive silence after her confession told her just how harsh and blunt it was. But she couldn't take it back. He wasn't what she needed or wanted, this Damon just hasn't learned that yet.

Damon inhaled and exhaled slowly and deeply while Maggie's words rung through his ears. His knuckles were white from gripping the railing so tightly. He originally came here wanting to see how she was doing and ask how she knew about compulsion, but now he was too mad for words.

He leaned back from the bed and ran an aggravated hand through his hair. He shook his head. As if he needed the reminder of just how close to death she was. He woke up in the town square, having no idea where she had gone. Then he got the radio call from Sheriff Forbes that they found his car at the Bennett house and Maggie was at the hospital.

But now he was getting yelled at for essentially caring too much. On the irony, it reminded him of another doppelganger that had yelled at him for similar reasons at the Mikaelson mansion.

"Fine," Damon gave in a defeated tone, heading for the door. "But this isn't over," He promised her firmly.

He just needed to blow off steam and later he could figure how things were this way.

Maggie saw the hurt that flashed across his expression, buried beneath the glacial fire of his gaze. A part of her did feel awful for instilling that hurt, because there had been a time she loved him and cared about him. But in this nightmarish reality, it seemed further away than ever.

Maggie said nothing as Damon stepped out of the room and the door snapped shut behind him sharply. She took a shaky inhale and let the tears finally start to fall from her eyes.

The beeping of the heart rate monitor next to her was so taunting.

* * *

Maggie thought about running away. There was nothing more than she wanted to sprint full speed out of this hospital, against the wind and straight for the open country. She could run and run, all the way back to Georgia and her family. Back to her father and her sister, Daryl and Carol, Rick and Carl, baby Judith.

She seriously considered the possibility of running away later that day in the evening hours. One of the nurses had arrived with a tray of food, which contained rather small portions, but larger than what she was used to. The nurse moved a side table over so Maggie could eat off of it without having to get her wrist un-cuffed. It was a little awkward to eat with her left hand, but she managed it.

Maggie was half way through her third bite of the oatmeal they had given her when she really thought about how cold it was and the way the texture was thick, maybe even a little gritty. It wasn't unpleasant and for a moment she wished it was warmer, smoother and slid down the back of her throat like –

Maggie dropped the spoon instantly when she realized what she was mentally comparing it to. She shook her head and leaned back from the tray, wondering what was wrong with her.

Was she really suffering from blood withdrawals? Had she really been that used to drinking it as a vampire?

Feeling the loss of her appetite immediately, Maggie thought back to her conversation with Dr. Fell and more specifically the vampire blood in her system. Elijah's. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or not that it was his. In a sense, having anyone but Kol's wouldn't be a good thing.

Absently, Maggie picked up the spoon while considering her options. With little effort and biting her lip lightly, she manipulated the spoon in her fingers. When she dropped it on the tray again, the handle was bent into a small knot. It was as easy as she thought it would be. She gave a glance towards the door of the patient room.

She could break out of here rather easily. It was just one average, human guard at the door. But Maggie looked towards the window and specifically the sunlight that came through it. If she was still sensitive, then she would be trapped in the shadows anyway.

A knock came at the door and Maggie looked up from the tray to see Dr. Fell stepping into the room.

"Hello Maggie," Dr. Fell greeted her politely with a file in her hands, still dressed in the doctor's white coat. "How are you feeling?" She asked while shutting the door behind her.

Maggie just gave a halfhearted shrug, having long since gotten tired of that question between the Sheriff and the nurses.

Meredith just gave a small nod and moved the rolling stool back over to the side of the bed, to take the typical bed spot of a doctor. "I just wanted to come by and discuss your blood test results," Meredith explained her appearance while easing herself down in the seat.

Maggie sat up right in a way in surprise at that, her eyebrows rising. "You took my blood?" She blurted out immediately.

Meredith blinked slightly at the reaction, but answered nonetheless, "Of course. It's standard procedure for emergency admittances."

"Oh," Maggie sighed out, frowning slightly in thought, but feeling less suspicious by how ordinary it sounded. "Do I have a blood type?" Maggie couldn't help but ask right away, getting a sense of déjà vu with the subject and Dr. Fell.

Meredith gave her an odd look, but flipped open the folder anyway. "Of course you do," Meredith replied effortlessly, glancing down at her pages briefly between words. "You're AB positive… the universal recipient," Meredith added on with a small grin.

This caused Maggie's brow to furrow, her gaze dropping down to the sheets of the bed absently. That didn't entirely match up with what she was last told. A small morbid thought in the back of her head couldn't help but think maybe the universal recipient of any kind of vampire blood.

"But that's not actually what I wanted to talk to you about," Meredith broke her thoughts, bringing Maggie's gaze back up to her. The grin faded off of Meredith's face as she looked at her notes once more. "Your results were mostly clean, but there's one area of concern."

Maggie tried to ignore the knot of dread at those words, which no one ever wanted to hear.

"Your white blood cell count was unusually high and given your family history, I think it would be wise to run some additional tests," Meredith explained gently, closing the folder in her lap, to lean forward on her elbows.

"You mean my mother," Maggie clarified in a numb tone, recalling all the questions she had received about her family history earlier.

Meredith nodded sympathetically, noticing Maggie was barely aware of the doctor. She had seen that look many times in her patients.

"What sort of tests?" Maggie found herself asking quietly, even though she didn't want to.

"A bone marrow biopsy," Meredith replied simply. "To start with and we'll see what we can learn from that."

Maggie inhaled sharply and her lower lip rolled into her mouth, biting it harshly. "Okay," She nodded in agreement. She knew the test would likely be painful, but what other choice did she have?

* * *

Later that night, Meredith got Maggie in for the bone marrow biopsy. Maggie suspected she had an elevated priority status in the hospital because of Damon and Sheriff Forbes, or the equipment that they were using wasn't used as much anymore. With such a depleted population in the world, it wasn't like the hospital was overcrowded now. It only catered to the surviving local population now.

The biopsy hurt just as much as Maggie thought it was. She bit her tongue while she laid on the table, on her stomach and felt the needle pierce into her skin. She barely listened to the explanations from the doctor about instrument they were using and how they were using it. She understood that it was her right as a patient to know, but some things she could be spare the details.

She hissed through her teeth when it went through the bone, but otherwise didn't say anything. The doctor commented on how remarkably well she was taking it and Maggie couldn't help but think of it being because of the training she had from a certain Original.

Maggie's stay in the hospital was extended in light of the recent tests. The following morning she was moved to a different room, in a wing meant for longer staying patients, but she was assured it would only be a few days. She didn't want to get her hopes up until the results came back.

The sterile environment of the hospital did nothing to sooth her. The polite smiles and warmth of the nurses didn't seem genuine to her. Maybe it was just her attitude and they really did mean it, but it was of no comfort to her.

When she was alone, the idea of her being potentially seriously ill brought her to tears. She didn't have Beth and her father to comfort either. They were in that god forsaken prison, not knowing any wiser and potentially fighting for their lives in a different way.

The silence left her too much time to think about the mess she was in, the way she had lashed out at Damon and how she still had to come up with a cover story. There was still Kol, if there was anyone that could ground her now, it would be him but he wasn't even in Mystic Falls.

When Dr. Fell returned with her test results late that afternoon, she wasn't alone. The young doctor looked more tired than before and Maggie wouldn't have been surprised if she pulled an all-nighter. The doppelganger didn't get a chance to ask because she was more distracted by the fair haired older gentleman behind her. His hair was just beginning to grey and he had soft hands to go with his gentle complexion.

"Hello Maggie," Dr. Fell greeted her politely, remembering to use her first name this time. "This is Dr. Anderson, he's an oncologist and a survivor from Richmond. He came to us shortly after the outbreak," Meredith explained the guest while the two doctors stepped forward.

"Maggie," The doppelganger introduced herself simply while Dr. Anderson extending his hand, shaking it briefly.

"It's a pleasure to meet you," He greeted a quiet tone with a small smile that didn't quite reach his eyes.

Maggie looked to Meredith imploring, starting to grow concerned at the appearance of not one but two doctors and the folder in Dr. Anderson's hands.

"Dr. Anderson helped me process the results of your biopsy. I'm sure you can understand we're a little short on staff and certain resources, so we did the best we could," Meredith explained formally.

"Okay," Maggie gave apprehensively for them to proceed, feeling a little smaller at the way they seemed to be preparing her.

"Now before I share with you what we found, I just want to you to keep in mind we are limited on resources. Nothing is confirmed until we run some additional tests and this isn't exactly my specialty area, but I'll offer as much insight and assistance that I can," Dr. Anderson took control of the conversation.

The more he spoke, the harder it was for Maggie to listen. She felt her blood begin to run cold and the pounding in her chest seemed more pronounced. Thinking of her mother caused her throat to tighten into a lump.

"What am I looking at, doctor?" Maggie finally spoke up without actually looking at the white coat.

Dr. Anderson hesitated before responding, sighing deeply and glancing down at his hands momentarily. Maggie barely noticed the fidgeting of Dr. Fell's fingers behind him.

"Chronic lymphocytic leukemia," Dr. Anderson declared finally.

The last of Maggie's air escaped from her lungs as she sank back in her seat in disbelief. Her mind went blank into shock, trying to really wrap her mind around those words. She didn't want to believe them, but the test results were right there in the doctor's hands. The severity of their expressions only made it worse.

"I have leukemia?" Maggie repeated faintly, ignoring the wet feeling on her cheeks that had become so familiar lately.

Dr. Anderson nodded gravely, "I believe so. CLL is typically common in older adults, but on rare occasions it can be inherited in children and young adults."

It didn't need to be said which said of the family it could have come from. Maggie was already thinking of her birth mother.

"Under normal circumstances, it's very treatable," Meredith spoke up, shifting on her feet anxiously at how visibly upset Maggie was growing. It had been a long time since she had to deliver such news to anyone. They normally dealt with dehydration and construction accidents these days. "The survival rate is good and it still seems to be in the early stages."

Maggie wasn't overly soothed by her words, having to force herself to take deep breaths and remain with the conversation instead of let her emotions get the best of it. "Under normal circumstances?" Maggie questioned, hung up on that particular phrasing.

Meredith exchanged a solemn look with Dr. Anderson before responding.

"Under normal circumstances, we would refer to you to a specialty hospital and doctor for the next step," Meredith's shoulders sagged as she delivered the final blow of the grim news. Chemotherapy wasn't something they could offer, even if they had the energy. She shook her head sympathetically, putting it into frank terms, "This hospital isn't equipped for treatment."

Maggie's heart sank. In a normal world, she would just be onto the next larger, likely regional hospital like the one in Richmond. But in this world, the chances of coming across another functioning hospital were a pipedream.

"It's curable," Maggie realized they were basically saying, "But there's nothing you can do."

Dr. Anderson averted his gaze to the floor.

Maggie wiped a few of the tears away from her eyes while nodding numbly at the confirmation.  
The action did nothing to stop the fresh ones that took their place shortly after.

"There is another option…" Meredith offered meekly to the tense room. Dr. Anderson picked up his gaze tensely, getting a sense where his colleague was going. He stood up quietly and offered the seat out to Meredith.

Maggie barely listened to the excusal and sympathy that Dr. Anderson gave before slipping from the room. Whether he approved or not of whatever Dr. Fell was about to propose, Maggie had a hard time telling.

"There's one treatment option, it's experimental and I honestly haven't tried it before but I genuinely believe it could work," Meredith declared when it was just the two of them in the room.

"What is it?" Maggie collected herself enough to respond, intrigued by the ambiguity of the doctor.

"Vampire blood," Meredith answered, searching the tense tear stained expression of Maggie. "I think with an aggressive treatment would be the best option. I could admit you for a few weeks at most with daily treatments to combat the leukemia and then after that it would just be periodic treatments and visits to make sure it stays in remission."

Maggie heard her, she really did, but she had enough.

More vampire blood, more time in the hospital being tested and probed. She would likely have to take more of Elijah's blood and she just couldn't think about the consequences of that on top of everything she just learned.

"I think… I just need some time to think about it," Maggie finally declared, shaking her head in refusal to accept anymore. "Without any vampire blood, to think about it clearly," She added on, not wanting that urge to influence her.

"Of course," Dr. Fell nodded sympathetically, having not been pleased with delivering the news to the poor girl who had no family for support with her, but it had to be done.

"Take your time," She assured her, rising from the stool. "If you have any questions or need me, just page the nurse." Meredith pointed down to the call button at the side of the bed.

Maggie didn't say anything, just giving the doctor a curt and forced nod before she disappeared.

* * *

That word haunted her mind after that. It danced and mocked her. It didn't seem like anything that would ever fit her. She barely recalled her mother being sick, she had died when she was so young. It didn't seem like something that would ever happen to it. After everything that had happened, how could something so common and normal be the potential end of her?

Leukemia. Leu-fucking-kemia. No matter how many times it ran on repeat in her mind, Maggie couldn't really grasp the silent killer coursing through her bones and her veins.

When Maggie had calmed down enough, she called Dr. Fell back in, if not simply just to have someone to talk to about it. She told her about the symptoms. Apparently it was still early and they didn't have to treat it immediately, only if the symptoms got worse. But honestly, listening to the symptoms, Maggie wouldn't know the difference of some of them being leukemia or just running from walkers for the past year.

The resentment came later that night as she thought about it. She stared up at the ceiling tiles, wondering at what point she would run out of tears. She was so tired of crying, but she didn't know what else to do.

"What's the point?" Maggie asked aloud, looking up at the ceiling. She wasn't sure who exactly she was talking to. She hadn't considered her faith in a long time.

She sniffled and cleared her throat, questioning bitterly, "What was the point of bringing me back… just to kill me off?"

What good was a second chance at being human if her time was already counted?

"You heard her. Everything has a cost, child," A voice answered her calmly in a knowing tone.

Maggie startled, snapping her eyes open and finding the source of it sitting in the doctor's stool. It was an elder ebony skinned woman with short dark hair that had a natural curl and frizz to it. Maggie quickly gathered she wasn't a hospital employee based on the assortment of flashy bracelets and the earrings she wore. She didn't know many doctors that wore fashion cardigans and full shadowy makeup to work.

Better question, how did she get in here? Maggie froze, having not heard the woman enter the room, never mind see her sit down and cross her legs with her hands lightly in her lap.

"What?" Maggie responded numbly, forgetting about the tears on her face and freezing uneasily in the vulnerable hospital bed.

"You died, child," The older woman reminded her gently. "Twice over actually. You didn't expect to come back from that without any consequences, did you?"

Maggie's eyes widened and she barely paid attention to the fact she was hardly breathing. Several questions immediately ran through her mind, but she was more unnerved at how this woman could know that she died twice before. She didn't even tell Lucy that she had been a vampire.

"Are you the one that brought me back?" Maggie asked, figuring that was the only way someone could know all that.

The woman quirked an eyebrow, gave a shake her head. "No, that was beyond my powers," She answered her, "But I was one of the supporters. I believe you'll do right by my family once again."

Maggie stared at her long and hard. Supporters? What was this? She made it sound like there was a board meeting that sat around and weighed in on whether or not to bring her back to life.

"Your family?" Maggie questioned incredulously, glancing up and down at the woman. "I've never met you before. Who are you?"

The witch smiled at her slyly before answering simply, "I'm Sheila Bennett."

Maggie's expression wrinkled up immediately, not to be rude but just because that couldn't be possible. "Wait, that doesn't make any sense, " Maggie protested, "That can't be… I thought you were –"

Maggie's words were interrupted by the sound of the patient door opening.

"Hey," Alaric greeted lightly, poking his head through the door as he started to step through the room. Maggie nearly jumped in surprise. He looked around the room oddly before asking her casually, "Who are you talking to?"

Maggie looked back to the doctor's stool and found it empty, leaving her mouth gaping. "No one, I guess," She mumbled halfheartedly.

Alaric just shrugged it off easily enough. "Well, I heard about what happened and we just wanted to come by to see how you're doing," He explained and then Maggie noticed he wasn't alone.

A young brunette stepped out from behind him, causing Maggie to sit up rigidly in her seat. She hoped it wasn't as obvious that she had been crying not too long ago, not wanting to appear weak in front of her.

"Hi, I'm Elena," The girl stepped forward, offering a hand out to Maggie with a pleasant smile. The Petrova doppelganger had a duffel bag slung over her shoulder, but otherwise wore the same bland clothing and flat iron straightened hair that Maggie remembered.

"Maggie," She stiffly took the vampire's hand a moment, her grin being more of a grimace in response. Don't make it obvious, Maggie repeated over and over in her mind quickly. Don't make it obvious you despise her or the last memory you have of her was impaling her into a wall and snapping her neck.

Elena didn't sense her hesitancy. "I'm Jeremy's sister. I heard about what happened and I just wanted to see how you were doing," She offered kindly with Alaric standing behind her, his hands shoved lightly in his pockets. "Jeremy wanted to come by, but he had to work tonight. He said he would come tomorrow."

"I'm doing okay," Maggie gave faintly. It wasn't like she was going to disclose her latest medical condition to them. She tried to ignore the poisonous voice in the back of her mind that whispered Elena likely just wanted to get a glimpse of the Rose look alike.

No, she couldn't make her resentment too obvious right now.

Elena cleared her throat before shrugging the strap of the duffel bag off her shoulder and raising it up. Maggie tensed a little at how familiar it looked. "I brought some clothes. I thought you might be tired of the itchy hospital garments," Elena jested, trying to lighten to the mood. She unzipped the bag and proceeded to show Maggie some shampoos and soaps that she also brought along for her.

Maggie supposed she probably did look terrible. Two days in the hospital hadn't helped that. As Elena went through the items, Maggie felt her stomach twist. It was uncomfortable watching Elena being friendly towards her while thinking of her other memories of her.

"Thank you," Maggie gave quietly, realizing that despite all of it this actually was a nice gesture and that was something she never did before.

Go figure, she thought bitterly in the back of her mind, only in a world where she recently suffered major head trauma would she be thanking Elena Gilbert.

"It's really nice of you, actually," Maggie took the bag into her lap, looking at the bottles absently. "But…" Her voice trailed and she raised her right wrist out from under the blanket, showing the handcuff.

"Oh, I'll get Officer Philips to take those off," Alaric offered, trying not to shake his head at Damon's over extensive antics. Alaric had remained quiet through the girl talk about clothes and such anyway, that wasn't his area. He slipped from the room quietly to talk to the officer standing by, leaving just Elena and Maggie for a moment.

Maggie could tell Elena was nervous from the way she bowed her head slightly and tucked some of her hair behind her ear before speaking again. "I heard about how you got here and I just wanted to say I'm sorry about Damon. No one should have been taken like that," Elena said.

Maggie quirked an eyebrow, partly impressed by how genuine Elena was appearing but she was suspicious of it. "Damon told you?" Maggie asked, unable to help but think of how different things were for this first meeting. She wasn't waking up in the middle of emotional confessions, she wondered if they still happened anyway.

Elena shook her head. "No, Alaric did," She pointed a thumb back in the direction of the door. The police officer and school teacher in question followed in quickly after.

The rest of the visit consisted mostly of Maggie getting uncuffed long enough for her to shower and wash up before changing into some of the fresh clothes. Maggie just opted for a t-shirt and some sweatpants for comfort, figuring she would be in the hospital a while longer yet.

Alaric and Elena sat with her for a while longer after that. They asked a couple of questions, which she just gave vague answers about being from Georgia and how long they were surviving on their own since the outbreak. They told her a bit about Mystic Falls, but it wasn't anything she hadn't heard before. She found herself just nodding along to most of it.

In a way, Maggie was grateful to have someone to talk to. It reminded her of the early days, when she got along with most of the Mystic Falls residents. But she knew that it was ill fated and ill sincere. The resentment burned within her. She knew it was at her sickness and everything that happened, but she directed it at the repulsion of the idea of becoming another one of Elena Gilbert's lapdog supporters sacrificing everything for her with nothing in return.

* * *

Maggie didn't get much sleep that night. Too much was on her mind. The idea of leukemia still remained in the forefront of her mind. Slapping Damon only a few days ago seemed like a distant memory already. She didn't see anything of him since her outburst earlier. Honestly, it didn't surprise her, but she knew he would only stay away for long.

Maggie tossed and turned most of that night. The bit of rest she did get was full of nightmares, the ones she frequently got on the road running from walkers. This time, she occasionally got a glimpse of Klaus driving a stake through her and the carnage she created at the campsite with Kol.

It was that morning she learned that no matter how differently things turned out, there were some events that simply could not be avoided from happening again.

She startled late in the morning, having been in and out of weariness when she heard a heavy thud outside the patient room door. She blinked and glanced towards the window, but didn't see any movement in the hallway. Not even the guard that was normally standing there.

The door opened before she could look around further. The heart beat monitor gave a tense increase in its beats at the arrival of her latest visitor.

He smirked over at her with his hands idly stuffed into the pockets of his jacket. The weariness was instantly forgotten as Maggie watched him step into the room, leaving the door open behind him. She didn't catch a glimpse of the heavy boots sprawled out on the ground in the hallway.

"Hello, darling," Kol greeted her, cocking his head slightly with confidence.

"Kol," Maggie tried not to sound too relieved to see him, having to remind herself of the reality of the situation. "How did you find me?" She honestly couldn't imagine having so many visitors and him being one of them.

Kol gave a casual shrug as he glanced over the room. It was rather bland and mind numbing, he thought. The only person item was that black duffel bag in the corner. "I went to Lucy to see if you had found what you wanted, among some other things," Kol answered truthfully before looking over Maggie. His eyes noted the handcuffs on her ankle and her wrist. "So you can imagine my surprise to find out you had been hospitalized with a skull fracture."

His tone wasn't necessarily sympathetic, but Maggie recognized that hint of agitation annoyance when something hadn't gone the way that he expected it to.

Maggie nodded. "Yeah, Dr. Fell had to use some vampire blood to heal it," She confirmed.

"I know," Kol replied instantly, earning a confused look from Maggie. He nodded towards the still open door. "I read it on your chart," He referred back to the clipboard in the holder mounted on the door, containing the information of her emergency admittance.

Maggie bit her lip as she watched Kol, who moved over to the doctor's desk and cabinets. His eyes flickered over the glass casings briefly, but with boredom. As much as she wanted to pretend he was here to see how she was doing, she knew better.

"Have you come to find out who I descend from?" Maggie asked, not wanting to tell him anyway. The longer he didn't know, the better she figured.

Kol just gave another shrug of his shoulders, not bothering to pull his hands out of his pockets. "I don't particularly care who you descend from," He disagreed, reminding Maggie of words she had heard before. He was more curious about the lack of burning in his throat around her.

"I guess my name is no secret now," Maggie pointed out, giving a weary glance towards the medical chart on the door. He probably knew her middle name and birth date now too among other things.

Kol gave a smirk at that and turned his attention back to her. "Oh, I still intend to hear your name," He teased lightly. "But on another day."

Maggie cocked her head slightly at him, biting her lip with an imploring but softer expression.

"What is the challenge of the hunt when you can't give a chase?" Kol pointed out, glancing down briefly to her cuffed state. This certainly wasn't the way he was expecting to find her.

The corner of Maggie's lip quirked upwards, but she didn't say anything. He made it sound flirtatious and sexual, but Maggie knew the underline predator behind those dark brown eyes and charming smirk. She wished the way she wanted him was the same way he wanted her.

Maggie stared back at him in silence until he was the one to break it. She couldn't quite tell what he was thinking, never mind his motive. Either way, her eyes didn't leave from him while he stepped forward, mildly inspecting the machines that she was hooked up to and giving a glance out the window.

Kol sized up the hospital room quickly and his curiosity took a few moments to look at the monitors.

Maggie itched to know why he really was here, but she doubted she would get a direct answer if she asked why he felt like coming.

"I'm sick, Kol," Maggie admitted out aloud, in a small voice.

Kol stilled and turned his head ever so slightly towards her from the window. Her heart rate was rather calm for having a violent Original in the room. But her emotions were given away in her voice and the lingering smell of salt in the air.

The way she said sick told him it wasn't something like the common cold.

"Dr. Fell wants me to start on an intensive treatment with Elijah's blood. She said it might cure it," Maggie's voice filled the continued silence from Kol.

Kol remained standing by the window. She could see his jaw lock tightly while he glared absently out the window. "Why are you telling me this?" He finally asked suspiciously, refraining from the urge to roll his neck in an attempt to shrug off the faint irritation he felt at the idea of her drinking Elijah's blood.

Maggie stared up at Kol longingly.

Because for a moment, she wanted to pretend that he would care.

"He's your brother," She said lamely instead, "I thought you would want to know…"

Kol turned to her and Maggie's eyes barely caught the blur of movement that suddenly brought him to a seat in the doctor's stool. He leaned forward towards her on one elbow. Maggie pulled her head back instinctively, swallowing thickly at the dark and impassive stare. His eyes bore into her and Maggie couldn't find any words, only left to wonder what his eyes were searching for in her.

The tense silence between them was long enough for Maggie to calm her heart rate down after him making her jump. His lips didn't move or quiver, she only caught the barest of blinks before he slowly raised a hand towards her face.

His fingertips caught a lock of her hair and gently pulled it away from her face. She felt the brush of them as he tucked it behind her ear.

"You should be careful about drinking vampire blood, mala lisicia," Kol murmured in a soft tone. "Sharing blood is a very intimate exchange, even between vampires. Its effects can have an even greater influence on humans."

Maggie heard his words, but she was more aware of the way his hand pulled back again to brush his fingers along her cheek and down to her neck. Her eyes flickered back and forth between his and the way his lips moved with each word. He was close enough to feel his warm breath.

"With a human, it can make them feel safe or stronger. It can lull them into this false sense of security, but ultimate they're just as weak and vulnerable to the predator," Kol explained while moving his hand to cup her cheek. His thumb stroked against her cheek, feeling the rising blush and seeing the red tint of her skin.

Before Maggie could stop herself, she reached up and clasped her hand over his, holding it to her cheek and leaning her head slightly into his hand. She heard him, but this felt so familiar and right.

It was a small reminder of the way he used to touch her.

"Like I have now," Kol pointed out frankly, figuring she was responding to him like this because it was his brother's blood. He wasn't Elijah, but he was close kin.

He expected Maggie to tense up and push his hand away. Her eyes snapped up to his immediately at that declaration. But there was no dilating of her pupils with fear or the obvious panic in her frame. Her hand remained clutched over his, if anything a little tighter than before.

It caused him to falter, his brow furrowing slightly. Just how much blood did they give her for her to be reacting to him this strongly?

"How long ago did they give you my brother's blood?" Kol asked seriously, wondering if maybe that was a factor too.

Maggie swallowed, realizing he was expecting an answer this time. "Two days ago," Maggie replied.

Kol's mouth fell open slightly, blinking several times. His expression went slacken with confusion. The hand on her cheek slipped away slowly while his face remained hovering close to hers.

"Then why are you letting me this close?" He whispered at a loss for a rational explanation now.

Maggie gasped, but no words came out.

"Maggie?" A voice cut in from the doorway.

Kol sat up stiffly, he heard the footsteps that had been coming down the hallway and the way they picked up. The newcomer apparently spotted the dead police officer face down. His wonder disappeared into a tight expression of annoyance.

Jeremy Gilbert froze in the doorway of the room. Jeremy wore his Grill shirt, having decided to stop and see Maggie before heading to work. He tore his eyes away from the dead police officer on the ground, sickened by the unnatural angle of his neck to Maggie in the hospital room. He was momentarily relieved to see that she was okay.

At least, until Kol sat up and turned towards him.

"Kol," Jeremy gasped out, unable to help the swear that ran through his mind. He didn't get a moment to process how close the two of them appeared to be when he interrupted.

The Original blurred up from his seat and Maggie let out a gasp when he blocked her view of Jeremy. Kol's hands reached up and Jeremy vainly tried to grasp at his arms before there was a sickening crack in the air.

"Jeremy!" Maggie shrieked out, watching his body fall down to the ground with a thud. She sat up in the bed, trying to go to him but she was held back by the tug of the handcuffs on her wrist.

"And that's how quickly a vampire can turn and kill you," Kol declared, turning back to Maggie with a dark smirk.

Maggie shook her head, not listening to him and trying to catch a glimpse of Jeremy on the ground. He had to have his ring on, he just had to.

Kol stepped back towards her while Maggie tugged in vain at the handcuff, ignoring the way the metal cut into her hand.

"That's how quickly a vampire can manipulate you," Kol reiterated, dropping back down to eye level with Maggie by leaning over her in the bed, placing his hands against the railings.

Maggie shrank back immediately to avoid him, pressing her back against the raised mattress. She turned her head away from him not from fear but defiantly, refusing to look him in the eye. "Get away from me, Kol," Maggie snapped out, trying not to think about Jeremy lying dead on the floor and how little Kol cared.

"Oh, come on now, darling. He'll bounce back from it soon enough," Kol taunted her sudden sour attitude. She had been so warm and receptive to him only a moment ago, it was funny how death of pathetic mortals could change that.

"I said _leave_, Kol," Maggie repeated forcefully, hissing through her teeth and still refusing to look at him.

The amusement slipped of his face as he noticed the tears and shake in her voice. If anything, there was a level of disgust in her tone too.

His jaw locked firmly in a flare of intense irritation as his gaze bore into her, still unable to coax her to look at him.

Kol stood up with a snap of movements. He gave one last glare at Maggie before marching out of the room, stepping over the dead bodies casually and disappearing down the hallway.

Maggie let out a shaky breath. She hadn't wanted to tell him to leave, but he had gone and killed Jeremy again. Once he was gone, she pressed the nurse call button repeatedly and yelled out towards the open door for help.

Moments later, there was a rush of nurses in the room. Several remained by the dead police, assessing his vitals and his conditions. The others went to Jeremy, leaving Maggie to shout and ask about his ring. It wasn't long before he startled with a gasp and Maggie let out a relieved cry.

Jeremy sat up and shrank back against the wall, staring numbly at the two nurses crowded around him. He barely realized what was going on before he heard Maggie saying his name. Seeing her, he shakily rose up to his feet before approaching her. Maggie caught him quickly in her arms, pulling him into a tight embrace to make sure he was okay.

A few moments later, there was a gunshot from the hallway. Maggie flinched in Jeremy's arms, while he ran a hand soothingly up and down her back. She knew it was the police officer, so he wouldn't turn into a walker.

Later that day, there was another flurry of activity from the doctors and nurses in the hallway. She heard the sirens coming before she saw them running down the hallway and several bloodied gurneys go by.

She heard faints words of a car accident where a family of five had been apart limb by limb. There were no survivors.

A sick part of her wasn't surprised by the news. She thought of overturned carriages outside of London.

* * *

_Author's Note: Yay for angst?_

_So just a note, the first scene in this chapter was not chronological with the others. I just posted it first because I didn't want to interrupt the fluidity of the hospital scenes._

_Anyway, let me know what you think! I know the leukemia twist might be a sensitive subject and I hope I haven't offended anyone. This chapter was heavy on the medical stuff but the rest of the fic won't be. The main point is that if Maggie chose to remain human, her time would be limited. _

_So what do you guys think of the death twists? Being the sickness and her now being a medium (if you haven't figured out by now that was ghost Sheila Bennett). I thought it made more sense for her to have a more serious consequence (I mean Jeremy died and he can see ghosts of the loved ones he lost… doesn't seem like much of a negative consequence to me.)_

_So what do you guys think is up with Kol? How did you like the Kolie scene? _

_I'm really curious, how many people would actually like to see a little bit of Malijah? _

_Review responses –_

_Eby Mikaelson: I'm glad you loved the last chapter. I think based on this chapter you can guess why SOME of the spirits supported bringing Maggie back. But we can see there's more than one Spirit involved. I would love to hear guesses on who else may be involved and motives. I think ultimately everyone be surprised at the ghost that orchestrated it._

_Cricket V: I know, it's so hard to write for Maggie in these chapters because I'm putting her through hell before she'll be able to pick herself back up. I promise it'll start to get better. There might be a major funeral, but things will start to improve._

_M: I'm glad you love it! Even if it is putting Maggie's heart through a blender. _

_The prison group will come in next chapter. There's a significant line in this chapter about some events being unavoidable, so yes they will be back soon. And all the Originals will be in this fic (Did I say ALL the Originals, hmmm…) We'll have some new and old, but all familiar characters next chapter._

_It's fun writing a fic where the main character knows something everyone else doesn't, but at the same time has no control over what's happening next. And yeah that's spot on, it really is like the courting phase for Kol and Maggie again, but things will go very differently. This story won't follow Irish Rose chapter for chapter. _

_I only expect to have 15 chapters or so for this story. Things will get intense and quickly. _

_Guest: I hope this chapter brought more joy than dread!_

_Nynaeve55: Your last review was amazing, I always get such a joy out of reading them, especially since you put so much into the analysis and break down. It's amazing to know someone else spends as much time reading and looking between the lines for deeper meanings that I do too. :) I'm really excited to see what you think of the reincarnation of the first Grill scene from Irish Rose for Maggie and Kol in this chapter. _

_But yes, Maggie has to be super careful with what she knows and we're going to see just how complicated that's going to get next chapter. At the same time, she's starting to realize, even given what she does know, there are some things beyond her control – like the leukemia. _

_And you're completely spot on with the idea of Maggie struggling with her feelings while Kol only has a mild interest. But now that interest is growing and we're seeing that something is off with Kol too. I'm curious to see if anyone can take a guess at what it is. ;)_

_I think you bring up some really good points about the Cure and it mattering who turns Maggie. I wish I could comment either way on it, but I won't in fear of ruining any surprises. _

_I know what you mean with that overwhelming feeling. I wonder every day if I bit off more than I can chew with taking three classes and working 50+ hours a week, so I just have to take it one day at a time. Thanks for the review, keep calm and carry on, girl! I look forward to hearing from you again._

_L: I'm glad you found it! Thank you!_

_Guest: Thanks for taking a look at the Tumblr page. I hope you make an account some day and follow it! And yes, there will be ghosts! We got Medium Maggie!_

_Thank you everyone for the lovely reviews, please keep them coming. They really make my day!_


	4. Chapter 4

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_Chapter Song: _

_Christel Alsos – Found_

_Scene: Glenn's Death_

_Olivia Broadfield – Gone_

_Scene: The Funeral _

_Chapter Four_

Later that day, there was another flurry of activity from the doctors and nurses in the hallway. She heard the sirens coming before she saw them running down the hallway and several bloodied gurneys go by.

She heard faints words of a car accident where a family of five had been apart limb by limb. There were no survivors.

A sick part of her wasn't surprised by the news. She thought of overturned carriages outside of London.

* * *

Maggie laced up her boots in quick and brisk movements. They were similar to her old boots, but they weren't her boots. They were just as black and sturdy, but they were too clean and the leather hadn't been broken in. But it was the best she had to work with, just like the clothes she was borrowing in the duffel bag sitting on the doctor's stool.

It had been two days since Kol killed Jeremy and Maggie had enough of the hospital. Being alone was the worst part, her mind tormented by her situation and everything coming back to haunt her. The sterile blearing lights of the hospital made her head hurt worse each time she thought about it. A morbid part of her wondered how Rick ever handled waking up in a hospital full of the dead. That night Jeremy came back, she didn't get much sleep. She had more flashes of walkers in her dreams, mixed with running from Klaus.

It got to the point when she startled awake, she swore she saw him standing outside her patient room window, smirking at her before disappearing down the hallway.

Now, she looked out that window and the police guard was gone. Today she was being discharged, which that idea alone made her nearly laugh. It wasn't like she was free to roam about Mystic Falls.

Before Maggie zipped up her bag a final time, she stopped and looked at the cabinets in the room. Figuring she had an extra minute to spare before anyone got suspicious, Maggie quickly rummaged through some of the drawers before she found what she wanted. She stuffed them deep within the bag before throwing the strap over her shoulder and heading for the nurses' station.

She caught up with Meredith talking to the nurse on duty.

During the two days, Maggie received fewer visitors. She didn't know what to make of her conversation with Sheila. A part of her wondered if it was just a hallucination from her overstressed mind. Either way, she didn't bother telling anyone about it. Jeremy dropped by again with Alaric and Maggie was appreciative of their concern.

Meredith ceased her discussion with the nurse when Maggie approached them. She offered a forced grin with the deep worry line in her forehead.

"Are you sure about this?" The doctor asked of her gently.

Maggie set her jaw tightly and gave a firm nod.

Meredith let out a sigh, clearly not approving of her decision but left with nothing else to do. She pulled a few papers from the clipboard in her hand. "Here are your care instructions," Meredith offered the papers out to Maggie, mostly a regiment of certain foods for nutrients and emphasis on portion control. Maggie had a hard time with the food while she was in the hospital, but she was getting adjusted to it again.

"And I want to see you in two weeks," Meredith stated meaningfully when Maggie took the papers with firm eye contact.

"Right," Maggie gave reluctantly as she folded the papers up to stuff into her bag. She was thrilled at the idea of coming back up for check ups, but it was the only way the doctor was going to relent.

Maggie's hand hesitated on the bag as she zipped it up. She could feel the doctor's gaze on her and she knew that was it for the hospital.

"Dr. Fell," Maggie addressed her apprehensively before looking back up. She lowered her voice and stepped closer. "Where am I supposed to go?" She was discharged, but what good was that now? Was she supposed to just go back to the boardinghouse and hope for the best?

Meredith gave her a tight lipped sympathetic look, seeing how lost Maggie was. But the doctor gave a nod towards the waiting room of the hospital, particularly two people standing near the doors at odds with each other.

"I think that's up for you to decide with them," Meredith gave vaguely, causing Maggie to turn and follow the direction of her gaze.

Damon Salvatore stood there with a rather irritated expression on his face while Lucy Bennett glared back at him calmly and coolly with her arms folded over her chest.

Maggie couldn't hear the words they were exchanging in low voices, but they ceased completely when the doppelganger approached the two of them.

"What are you two doing here?" Maggie asked right away, not exactly having been expecting anyone to be waiting for her. She tensed immediately in Damon's presence, their argument still fresh in her mind.

"We were just discussing where you would be staying. Dr. Fell radioed me and told me that you were being discharged today," Lucy beat Damon to the punch, turning towards Maggie and dropping the defensive posture with a soft grin.

"And I still don't see how that's open for discussion," Damon quipped and not exactly pleased to have run into the Bennett witch.

Maggie's head jerked back slightly an incredulous manner at Damon's haughty manner, but she didn't respond right away. She was still thrown that Lucy was involved.

"Is that so?" Lucy challenged Damon while quirking an eyebrow, turning back towards him.

"Yeah, it is. I don't see why she would stay anywhere else but at the boardinghouse," Damon remained adamant. He had brought her to Mystic Falls after all.

Maggie opened her mouth to protest.

"Really? So she can what? Go back to being locked up in your basement?" Lucy injected quickly, going back to nose to nose with the vampire.

Maggie closed her mouth without say anything and looked to Damon. Valid point, the witch nearly took the words right out of her mouth.

"No, she can stay in a guest room," Damon defended sourly, knowing it sounded bad when Lucy put it like that, but he supposed she could stay in one of the guest rooms. "As long as she doesn't go ballistic on me again," He amended.

Maggie sighed and shifted on her feet, briefly wondering if either of them realized she was still standing there.

"How hospitable of you," Lucy muttered sarcastically.

Instead of continuing to bicker with Damon, Lucy suddenly turned on her heel back to Maggie, not forgetting the doppelganger was still there. "It's up to you, Maggie," She suddenly declared and casted a warning glance towards Damon, daring him to disagree.

"But you're more than welcome to stay with me until your family arrives," Lucy offered out to her kindly.

"Which I might also add," Lucy looked back at Damon with another cool glare, "None of your kind has been invited inside."

Maggie's eyebrows rose at that. She didn't miss the slight up curl of Damon's lip in annoyance at the slant, but he didn't argue. Maggie knew there was no living person that had the deed of the Salvatore boardinghouse, which meant any old vampire or hybrid could go waltzing in.

It didn't take Maggie more than a minute to consider it. She knew if she went with Damon that would involve more interrogations and more questions. There would be Stefan and Elena to deal with as well, and who knew how long it would be before her and Damon were at each other's throats again.

"I would like that. Thank you, Lucy," Maggie agreed quietly, giving her a grateful grin, much to Damon's agitation. There was a certain level of unknown about staying with Lucy that wouldn't haunt her with the familiarity and déjà vu either.

"Good, it's decided then," Lucy stated quickly and triumphantly. She stepped aside towards the door, eager to not waste any more time with the vampire.

Damon let out a sigh, but didn't disagree with the witch. It left Maggie wondering if he got a brain whamming or two before she interrupted.

Maggie avoided looking at him while she stepped past to follow after Lucy. She didn't like having to be so cold hearted towards him, but she had to look out for herself right now.

"Hey," Damon stopped her suddenly, reaching out to grasp at her upper arm. His tone was softer than before but firm, "We're still going to talk."

Maggie stiffened from the contact, glancing down to the hand on her arm. Lucy stopped, narrowing her eyes on the two and not likely Damon's forwardness.

"After I find my family," Maggie countered and shrugged her arm out his grasp. She knew she couldn't deny him completely, but she had other priorities at the moment.

Damon didn't object any further. He just remained in the lobby of the hospital while he watched the two females disappear through the doors. He ruffled up his hair a bit as he let out a sigh. Since when were the witches getting involved, he wondered? This was a bit more than he was expecting to handle.

It felt odd for Maggie to be following Lucy out to the parking lot without any handcuffs, police escorts, or overbearing vampires following after her.

Lucy took the driver's seat in a small red Honda Civic, which Maggie noticed had the white spray paint markings and number assigned from the Council. Maggie threw her bag in the backseat before climbing into the passenger seat with the witch.

At first she didn't really know what to say, when it came down to it she only had one conversation with Lucy and she agreed to stay with her. Granted, Maggie remembered her and they had worked together before, but she couldn't count on that.

"Not to sound ungrateful or anything," Maggie finally broke the silence while Lucy drove away from the hospital. "But why did you letting me stay at your place?"

Lucy smirked at her question, briefly wondering if the doppelganger was suspicious of everything.

"A friend called in a favor," Lucy replied vaguely.

* * *

Maggie wiped the steam away from the bathroom mirror to see her face, slightly blurred still from the humidity.

True to Lucy's word, they went back to the old Bennett house. The witch warned her that Seamus may be there, since he tended to drop by whenever he wanted, but the house was quiet when they got there. The witch showed her around, like if she was just a family guest and not Damon's previous hostage.

It was a quaint home, which was warm and inviting. The furniture and carpeting was obviously a little dated. Maggie didn't waste any time lingering at the photos in the hallways and such. When Lucy showed her the guest room, she noticed the bathroom attached to it immediately. Lucy left her to the guest room while Maggie indulged in the hot shower.

Now she stood there wrapped in a towel, but she left the water running. She glanced down at the duffel bag she left on the counter. Using the sound of running water as cover, she rummaged through the bag for the supplies she stole from the hospital earlier.

Figuring she had a few minutes to spare before anyone got suspicious, Maggie put the lid of the toilet down and sat down. She tied off one of the medical rubber straps around her arm, just above her elbow, having to use her teeth and one hand. Nervously, she held her forearm out in front of her before taking a deep breath. Carefully, she located a vein before the needle of a syringe pierced it. She stifled the hiss through her teeth while she drew out the blood.

Three vials later, she held one of them up in the mirror, inspecting the maroon liquid with mild interest before stowing them back in the duffel bag. She turned off the water and cleaned up her mess quickly, stashing away everything.

Maggie hesitated a bit while getting dressed, noticing some of the clothes were the same ones that she remembered borrowing before. At this least time when she wore the dark green outfit with the black boots, she wasn't trying to beat Damon with a towel rack afterwards.

Maggie came out of the bedroom and started heading down the hallway to the stairs, figuring she should probably make an appearance. She was halfway down the carpeted steps when some voices carried through the house that caused her to stop.

"How long has this been going on?" Lucy's voice carried from what Maggie guessed was the kitchen.

The voice that answered her caused Maggie to freeze. She must be mistaken she figured. "Several days now and its only gotten worse," He answered her.

"Okay, let me have a look," Lucy out a sigh and Maggie could almost imagine her shaking her head.

There was notable length of silence between the two, which itched at Maggie's curiosity even further. She inched down two more steps slowly while holding on the handrail, hoping none of the wood would creak.

"Oh," Lucy let out in surprise, pulling her head back slightly as she squinted. "That's different…"

He let out a scoff that was torn towards an incredulous chuckle, rolling his gaze upwards and shaking his head. "That's _different_?" He repeated before drawling out sarcastically, "Let me begin to tell you how reassuring it is to hear that from a two century year old witch."

Maggie's heart skipped a beat, there was no denying who that was now. And that meant she couldn't remain eavesdropping on the steps for long. She swallowed thickly and squared her shoulders before descending the rest of them.

"Well excuse me," Lucy shook her head, "But unless you got rough with some poison oak before coming here, this isn't something I normally deal with."

Maggie followed the voice through the hallway and stopped when she came into view of the kitchen. Lucy's back was to her with one hand on her hip. Maggie entered the room just in time to see the indignant look that Kol was giving her before he looked up.

From where she was standing, she didn't see the quick way that Kol tugged the fabric of his shirt out of Lucy's hand. The agitation in his expression died instantly, his gaze pulling into a dark and calculating one as it lingered on Maggie. While the witch turned around to see what caused the sudden shift in his demeanor, Kol quickly buttoned up the rest of his shirt.

"You look much more alive already," Lucy phrased, dropping her discussion with Kol quickly while she glanced over Maggie. The doppelganger had a healthier shade to her skin and her complexion was much clearer now without wearing the days spent in the hospital and on the road.

"Are you hungry?" Lucy asked while she moved back around the kitchen island towards the stove, leaving Kol and Maggie on the other side.

Even though she heard Lucy, she didn't take her eyes off Kol, especially with the way he was staring back at her. It caused her to shift uncomfortably on her feet and fidgeted with the end of her cardigan sleeve.

"Not really," Maggie answered her, chancing a glance towards Lucy. The witch half shrugged and went back to her mixing bowl, she wasn't going to mother her. Looking back at Kol, Maggie noticed the faint smirk tugging at his lips and the way his eyes passed over her figure.

Admittedly, it was the first time he had seen her cleaned up and he was rather pleasantly pleased by it.

"I thought you said you didn't invite any vampires in here," Maggie directed towards Lucy, still not particularly happy with what Kol did to Jeremy or that now dead family.

"Oh I didn't say that," Lucy spoke up without actually turning around.

"What?" Maggie frowned. There's no way she heard her wrong.

Kol smirked boldly, not put off in the slightest by the way Maggie was trying to ignore him. He noticed the small hint of a blush on her cheeks and could hear her heart hammering away. "I'm a special exception, darling," He replied for the witch. "Isn't that right, Lucy? Servants of nature never do completely turn their backs on their kind, no matter what travesty befalls them."

Lucy frowned slightly at her mixing bowl and muttered faintly under her breath, "The only travesty is the witches you've killed."

Kol ignored the jab, just grinning broad with dark amusement while continuing on, "And given the close connection of our family bloodlines, the lovely Lucy here is obliged to help me."

"Wait," Maggie interrupted, quickly forgetting about her personal annoyance with Kol. She stepped closer to him, her eyes narrowing in growing suspicion and wonder, "Your kind?"

Lucy paused to turn around and answer Maggie, "Kol was a warlock before he was turned…" The witch then sent him a scathing look, "Before he murdered hundreds of witches."

Kol's smirk grew tense, hiding the underline tension. It was an argument he's had many times before with Lucy. He didn't bother denying her claim though. "Yes well, I lost my humanity and connection to nature in the same night. I was willing to do anything to get that power back," He then added on with a slightly threatening tone, "And that includes getting rid of those of no use."

Lucy locked her jaw tightly before going back to her preparations. She shook her head, but didn't say anything. There wasn't anything quite as stubborn as a thousand year old vampire.

Maggie was stunned though.

Her mouth hung open a little as she regarded him differently than ever before. "You really were a warlock?" She asked numbly, unable to help but thinking of all the times they spoke about witches and his resentment for them, but respect at the same time.

Kol tore his gaze away from Lucy slowly to Maggie. He took a deep breath before nodding simply, murmuring in a calm tone, "Yes… I had only just came into my powers before I was turned."

Maggie felt a heart pang at the subtle hurt in his eyes. Maybe if she didn't know as well as she did, she wouldn't have saw it. But she felt for him, left to only imagine what it felt like to have a part of him taken away brutally.

She didn't see before, but maybe she should have. Maybe this was where his resentment for witches stemmed from, especially the one that took it away from him.

"I spent centuries trying to find a way back to it," Kol added on, shaking his head slightly at the memories of the failed efforts.

Maggie bit her lip, rolling that around on her mind. Her shoulders eased up and she leaned one hip against the counter of the island.

Kol's expression eased up a bit as he watched her, his curiosity piqued by the way she seemed concerned.

"What about now?" Maggie wondered aloud. "Would you still want it back?" She had always thought he seemed okay as a vampire.

The question caused Kol to falter for a moment, but ultimately he just shrugged his shoulders. "No, I haven't given it serious thought in a long time," He decided honestly before adding a knowing grin, "It wouldn't be worth raising hell on earth."

Maggie frowned slightly, unsure whether or not he was being serious with his naturally teasing manner.

The Original stepped around her then and went to the white refrigerator. Maggie watched his movements, shifting to lean her elbows against the island counter top. To a normal person, it looked like a collection of people just hanging in the kitchen and one poking his nose in the food cooler, but it was one of the oddest collections of supernatural creatures.

Maggie was broken out of her wandering thoughts by a low whistle from Kol. She looked up in time to see him tossing an object towards her while he pulled one out for himself.

"Apples?" Maggie asked out aloud, marveling over the fruit in her hands. "Where did you get these?" Maggie asked Lucy. It wasn't even the season for them.

Lucy grinned at the expression on Maggie's face, like a child at Christmas. "I have a greenhouse," She nodded towards her backyard.

"I still say channeling counts as cheating," Kol piped up cheekily before taking a bite from his while he leaned against the refrigerator.

Lucy gave him a rueful look, "Keep it up and we'll see if I cook for you again."

Kol shot her a mock pout.

Maggie just smirked quietly from her spot before taking a bite of the apple while the two continued to bicker, like some sort of demented siblings. She had to keep herself from making any noises as she ate the apple. She couldn't remember the last time she had fresh fruit and the burst of flavor in the juice. She had to keep a few drops from running down her chin.

She stopped when she felt someone's gaze on her.

Slowly, she swallowed and put the apple down on the counter. "You're staring, Kol," Maggie pointed out, lifting her gaze up to him. His apple was no longer in sight as he leaned against the appliance with his hands stuffed in the pockets of his jeans.

The Original smirked at her awareness, but it didn't last long as one thought continued to nag at him.

"I'm just wondering how it is you're out of the hospital so soon," Kol stated his thoughts. "I was given the impression you would be in there longer for treatment." If she had gone through treatment, she was looking well enough for it. She was still a half starved and jumpy little thing, but she didn't look as pale and sickly as when he first saw her in the hospital.

The dark circles were still under her eyes from lack of sleep though.

Maggie's stomach gave a nervous lurch, the apple not seeming as appealing all of the sudden. She stood up a little stiffer. "That's because I refused the treatment," Maggie said, fidgeting with the apple on the counter anxiously.

"Treatment for what?" Lucy spoke up casually, only half listening while she started to pour the mixture into a pan.

Kol leaned off the appliance, keeping his gaze fixated on Maggie. He had wondered the same thing, but didn't exactly get the chance to ask her about it before he was thrown out of the room.

Maggie bit her lip and dropped her gaze to the apple, suddenly becoming very interested in the red coloring. She could try to avoid answering, she figured, as well as she could do that with a witch and an Original. She didn't want to admit the truth, but she knew she would at some point. Maybe it would be easier to admit to two strangers, as much as she hated to consider them such.

"Leukemia," Maggie forced the word pass her lips, keeping her gaze down.

The kitchen stilled immediately. Lucy dropped the bowl down on the counter and turned on her heel towards Maggie. Her mouth hung open, her eyes wide with shock. Even Kol didn't have an immediate response or comment, his expression slacken and unmoving except for blinking.

"I just received the diagnosis a few days ago," Maggie explained, shifting uncomfortably.

Kol recovered first. "Why in the hell would you do that?" He snapped out harshly.

Maggie startled, standing upright immediately at his outburst. "Excuse me?"

Kol paused to take a deep breath, but his mood didn't lighten. "Why would you refuse treatment for _leukemia_?" He repeated. Did this girl have a death wish or something?

Maggie gasped and shook her head defensively. Kol took several steps closer to her and she had to stubbornly square her shoulders to keep herself from shrinking away from his glare.

"What are you talking about?" She shot back quickly, trying not to raise her voice. "You're the one that practically told me not to."

"That was when you told me you were sick," Kol retorted, leaning over the stubborn doppelganger. "Not _dying_."

"What difference does it make?" Maggie snapped out. Drinking Elijah's blood would have the same effect either way.

"A huge difference!" Kol's voice was rising as he waved a hand in frustration. "One doesn't involve you lying six feet under afterwards."

Maggie's anger froze. Her glare softened up as the thought dawned on her. It seemed a bit to surreal to believe and it felt it as she murmured it aloud, "I didn't know you cared…" At least, that was the only way she could explain him being upset whether or not she would live without the treatment.

Kol stopped and took a step back from her. "I didn't say I did," He muttered defensively, blinking in disbelief at the suggestion and derailing his frustration instantly.

"Really?" Maggie challenged, quirking an eyebrow and folding her arms over her chest. She stepped closer, claiming the step that Kol gave up. "You seem pretty concerned for someone that claims to not feel."

"Hey!" Lucy interjected, having been thoroughly forgotten by the pair. "Would you two leave the foreplay in the bedroom and not my kitchen? I would like to eat off these counters again."

Maggie took an immediate step back from Kol, her eyes widened and she felt the heat rushing to her face.

Kol let out a frustrated groan, running a hand through his hair.

Lucy couldn't help but break up the tension in the room at their expense. She just smirked at how flustered Kol looked. She could only recall a few times he's been as worked up as he has been lately.

"What, I …" Kol struggled with his own words, just shaking his head overwhelmed by everything going on. "I need… to go hunt something," He mumbled out before snatching up his jacket from the kitchen island.

He didn't bother wasting any time before disappearing down the hallway, almost in a blur. The house shook with the slamming of the front door.

Maggie let out an exhausting exhale, shaking her head. She threw a hand in the air and looked at Lucy like "_What was that_?" Her head was spinning, unsure whether or not she did make the right decision about the treatment now.

Lucy just chuckled at her lost expression and went back to the mixing bowl. "Don't worry, girl," She said knowingly. "He'll be back. He won't stay away from these muffins for long." Lucy gestured down to the pan she was finishing off.

"He eats muffins?" Maggie blinked incredulously, wondering just how many things about Kol she was going to find out she didn't know in one day.

"No, but these ones have some special herbs in them," Lucy hummed out while she bent over the open oven. "And from what I hear, Klaus really doesn't like hybrids with the munchies."

* * *

Maggie spent the next day at Lucy's home. Originally she had pressured the witch about finding her family, but Lucy said that a convoy had already been sent to retrieve them. Maggie was a little begrudged to just take her word for it because she had hoped to sit down with Sheriff Forbes about it, but Lucy insisted that it had already been taken care. The witch strongly advised her to rest and wait for them to return.

That was how Maggie figured out she was a guest in the home, but not exactly free to make her own decisions. Lucy didn't make it available for her to leave the house, unless the witch went with her. That was fine for Maggie though. It wasn't like she needed to explore Mystic Falls this time around anyway.

When it came to eating, Maggie ended up pushing her food around on the plate more than eating. Lucy couldn't help but note the little things about Maggie. Like how she didn't object in the least when Kol gave her the apple. Or the way she looked at him with such concern and familiarity, but Kol had insisted he only met the doppelganger a few days ago. Or the fact she hardly asked any questions, if anything she got lost in her own thoughts more than she was in touch with reality. The only thing that stirred a little life out of her was when Lucy said she was welcomed to any of the books on her shelves. She wasn't too worried about Maggie getting into any of the grimoires since none of them were in English anyway.

It was late in the evening when Maggie heard a scratching noise carry over from the informal dining table. She looked up from the book in her hands, from lounging on the couch. She tried not to think about how it was the same couch she collapsed on.

The scratching noise came from a set of radios that Lucy always left out on the table. The volume was turned up loud on them. Maggie figured out the witch was rather well informed on what was going on in Mystic Falls through them, since she had several tuned to different frequencies.

"Lucy, are you there?" The male voice came over the radio, a little distorted but familiar.

Lucy emerged from the kitchen quickly and snatched up the radio. "I'm here. Go ahead, Stefan," She answered while casting a worried look over to Maggie. Normally people didn't radio this late at night.

Maggie's stomach gave a lurch at the Salvatore's name and her grip tightened on the book.

"It's Klaus," Stefan's voice came more distinctly over the radio. "I spotted him with the convoy at the gate. They're heading to the boardinghouse. Is Maggie with you?"

Maggie felt her veins fill with a cold sense of dread. That was the convoy that Lucy had been talking about?

"Yeah, she's here," Lucy radioed back to him while looking at Maggie, worry clear in her eyes.

"She needs to get to the boardinghouse now. Klaus will be there any minute," Stefan responded in a strained and meaningful tone.

"Got it," Lucy cut him off quickly, watching the way Maggie rose uneasily from her seat and abandoning her book to the floor.

Lucy cut the volume down on the radio and dropped it back on the table with a swear. She didn't think the hybrid would be back so soon and she would have a little more time. Lucy started searching through her mixture of possessions on the table.

"Do you know how to get to the boardinghouse?" Lucy asked of the doppelganger suddenly, sensing the young woman approaching her.

Maggie gave a numb nod, unable to help the way her throat tightened up from the chilling feeling of the whole situation.

"Good," Lucy declared and in a flash tossed a pair of car keys towards Maggie. She didn't have time to stop and ask her how she knew her way around town. "Go. I'll catch up with you," Lucy ordered.

Maggie caught the keys in her hands, but didn't budge right away. In disbelief, she watched Lucy rummage through her purse before pulling out a small silver device. It flipped open to reveal a basic prepaid cellphone.

Maggie nearly opened her mouth to ask how the screen lit up when Lucy snapped out at her quickly, "Go!" The witch turned away from her quickly, punching a few buttons and bringing the phone to her ear.

Snapping out of it, Maggie nodded and went towards the front door. She could figure out what the witch was doing with a cell phone later. She dashed out the front porch and towards the red car, each step letting the reality of her family being held by Klaus again sink in.

* * *

The tires screeched against the pavement and Maggie felt her shoulder thrown against the frame of the door as she pulled the vehicle through some of the tight turns faster than it should have. She pressed down on the gas pedal, speeding through the streets she had become so acquainted with in a different lifetime. For it being a different life, the route came back to her naturally. But she didn't even have time to comprehend how unnerving that was.

All she could think of was her family being stuck in that white cube van with the hybrids and Klaus. Images of them being lined up with bags over their heads flashed through her mind. She couldn't stand by and watch Carol get her neck snapped again. Even if she could cure her later, she just had to avoid watching her die again. Maybe she could do it differently this time. Maybe she could save her.

The boardinghouse came into sight and the glow of lights came from the first story. Maggie pressed down heavily on the brakes in the driveway. She only spotted the blue Camaro. As she came to a halt, she laid onto the horn in the process. She barely put the car into park and killed the engine before she was half stumbling out of the vehicle in her panic.

The front door opened immediately, the occupants startled by the sounds of the car. Damon stepped out first, followed closely after by Stefan.

Damon opened his mouth to say something to her, but stopped at her frantic appearance.

"Where are they?" Maggie shouted as she ran up towards Damon. "Where's my family?" She didn't bother trying to staunch the panicked heavy breathing.

"They're coming," Damon spoke up and caught Maggie by the upper arms. She grasped at his elbows in return, partly to keep herself standing and to avoid colliding with him. "Klaus has them, they'll be here soon," Damon attempted to sound reassuring.

"No," Maggie's voice shook with horror. "What have you done?"

Stefan frowned heavily at this time, stepping up next to his brother and looking between the two.

"Huh?" Damon just cocked his head. He thought she would be happy to hear her family was almost here.

"_Klaus_, Damon!" Maggie nearly shouted. "Do you realize what you've done?!"

"I thought you said she was okay with this," Stefan spoke up accusingly, looking at his brother.

"Hey," Damon ignored his brother and leaned closer to Maggie to look her in the eyes. "I need you to calm down," He didn't try to compel her this time, but she was acting just as crazy before. Maybe the skull fracture had nothing to do with it.

Maggie shook her head helplessly and tried to step away from Damon's hands, but his grasp remained firm. She should have done, she told herself. She should have known that he would go behind her back and just do it his way anyway. He always did.

Before Maggie got in another word, they were distracted by a set of blaring lights landing on the building. Three heads turned in the direction, squinting to see a pair of headlights turning into driveway followed by another.

Maggie's stomach gave another nauseating roll to see the white delivery truck coming to a halt followed by a black SUV. She felt trapped, like a twisted spectator to watching the lights shut off while she was stuck in Damon's arms on the front porch. Just like last time, she was restricted by the supernatural vice of his hands while Klaus climbed out of the vehicle and the latch of the delivery truck loosened.

"Well, this is quite the spectacle," Klaus greeted the three of them with a taunting smirk. Maggie grimaced, feeling a shiver at the familiarity of the words.

"I see your doppelganger is in better health now," Klaus pointed out, looking towards Damon and Maggie.

Maggie's eyes widened at that, suddenly getting the feeling the day she thought she saw him standing at her hospital window wasn't such a dream after all.

The hybrid strolled up to the three on the front porch. Maggie turned in Damon's grip to face him. She felt the vampire shift next to her, obviously wanting to place himself between her and Klaus.

"I do believe the Salvatore's have forgotten their manners," Klaus continued on, ignoring the faux bored and agitated look from Stefan and the death glare from Damon.

He held his hand out towards Maggie. "Niklaus Mikaelson, but you may call me Klaus," He introduced himself with that sickly polite smile that Maggie remembered. "It's Margaret from what I hear, no?"

Maggie didn't bother to hide the look of disgust on her face. "It's Maggie," She corrected him bluntly and made no move to take his hand. "Where's my family?"

The smile faltered only slightly on Klaus' face. His eyes took a more threatening blue hue to them, especially with the way his hand was left hanging in the air. After a tense moment, he dropped it as if it didn't matter.

"Delivered as promised, sweetheart," Klaus replied tersely, still not thrilled with the arrangement he came to with the Salvatore's at the hospital. He gave a nod back towards the vehicles.

From that signal, they stirred to life and Maggie could only watch as the same hybrids she remembered climbed out of them. One by one, they unloaded their unwilling passengers from the back of the van. She counted them as they came one with black bags on their heads, one in a wheel chair and another baby in a car seat.

Klaus stepped back towards them as the hybrids took up their spots behind each victim. Maggie wasn't even fighting against Damon's grasp at that point. Her knees shook with the horror of having to watch this play out again before her eyes. She only numbly listened as Klaus drawled on about how he found eleven survivors at the prison instead.

She could have saved them and said they were a part of the group, she realized. But she didn't know them, she didn't owe them that much. Now there was only eight left.

"Now Stefan," Klaus suddenly shifted the conversation in a manner that Maggie wasn't expecting. He stepped in front of the line of people and gestured back towards them. "Here, they are. Eight precious loved ones, delivered as requested," There was a slight sneer to his words.

At that, the hybrids pulled off the bags from the heads of the Atlanta group. While there were no gags in their mouths, it was pretty obvious they were compelled to remain silent. Many of them seemed to be fighting with themselves to say something. Hershel, Carl, Beth, Daryl, Rick, baby Judith, Carol… and the last one caused a flash of guilt to hit Maggie like a brick wall; Glenn.

"Glenn," Maggie said his name with sickening realization. All this time, she had barely even given him a second thought.

Glenn's eyes sought her out immediately, she watched numbly as he struggled against the grasp of the hybrid behind him. His eye was swollen and bruised heavily. His clothes were stained with dirt and maybe even a little bit of blood. Despite whatever abuse he had suffered on the way up to Mystic Falls, he struggled with a renewed strength, especially at seeing Maggie.

"But let me make myself very clear," Klaus continued on, addressing Stefan and everyone listening. In the next blur, he was behind Glenn and taking the place of the other hybrid. He smirked at the way the two young humans sought each other. Interestingly though, Maggie wasn't fighting as much against Damon's restraint and she looked more like she had seen a ghost.

"If you think you can manipulate me ever again," Klaus growled out warningly while he pulled Glenn up roughly to his feet by his shoulder.

"I will descend upon you, starting with everything you hold dear and your loved ones," Klaus declared while Glenn tried to shrug away from his grasp. He gave two jerks against Klaus' hand before he suddenly lurched, his shoulders stiffened and his expression choking quickly.

"Glenn!" Maggie shouted, stirring to life and seeing the alarmed flash through Glenn. She launched forward, but she was stopped by Damon wrapping his arms around her waist to hold her back.

"Don't be stupid," Damon whispered into her ear, giving an anxious glance to the hybrids gathered by the rest of her family. He heard the order that Klaus had given to them to snap all the Atlanta group's necks if they stepped off the porch.

Klaus just smirked at the doppelganger's reaction. The next moment Glenn's shoulder gave another shudder and Klaus' hand emerged from behind Glenn's back.

His hand was covered, almost black in the darkness of the night, but the liquid gave off a shine in the flood lights.

The organ in his hand caused a piercing scream to erupt from Maggie's lips.

"No! Glenn!" She shrieked, her knees buckling before she tried to lunge forward from Damon's arms again.

The alarmed, but vacant expression on Glenn's face didn't even falter as his knees gave out first before his body dropped to the ground heavily.

Klaus gave the heart only a mildly interested glance before letting it drop next to Glenn's body. Stefan took a step forward, but stopped when three hybrids took a step forward to him. Neither Salvatore had any words while Maggie's anguished cries filled the night air. "Glenn," She repeated his name over and over, breaking worse each time.

"Now then, who's next?" Klaus brushed off his hands lightly, only causing the blood to smear a little more.

The Original hybrid looked to the next human in line, an older woman with a short grey haircut. He took a few steps, but halted when another pair of headlights illuminated the driveway. His smirk faltered a little. There were no sirens and it was just one vehicle, so it wasn't the Mystic Falls police.

Klaus didn't bother turning to see the way Maggie struggled against Damon. She threw an elbow to his face and a foot stomped on his shin was enough for her to slip from his grasp. She fell forward before scrambling onto her feet towards Glenn.

The other hybrids didn't stir, having turned their heads to see the additional black SUV stop in the driveway as well.

"Glenn, no no no!" Maggie gasped as she collapsed onto her knees next to him. Her hands went to his head immediately, picking it up to cradle it in her lap. His eyes were still open, staring blankly up at the night sky.

"Not you, Glenn, not you," Maggie pleaded. "Wake up, please wake up," She refused to look at the organ lying only a few feet away from him. She could save him, she had to save him if he came back.

The SUV car door opened and Klaus stopped at who it revealed.

"That's enough, Niklaus," He addressed him in a commanding tone, the dark fabric of his clothing smoothing out as he stood and took calm, perfected strides towards the hybrid.

"Elijah, how kind of you to join us," Klaus greeted him in a slightly condescending tone to hide his genuine surprise at seeing his older brother. He hadn't realized the whole family was back in town after all.

Elijah didn't share his amusement in the slightest bit as he stepped up to confront his brother. He glanced briefly towards the scene before him. It disgusted him, reminding him of crude torture and execution scenes.

"What is the meaning of this?" Elijah gestured towards the humans, his eyes flickering briefly at Maggie and the way she huddled over the dead one. "This unnecessary terrorizing of her family."

"Unnecessary I disagree, brother," Klaus corrected him quickly and shot a look towards the other two brothers. "The Salvatore's seem to forget their place."

"And you choose to make an example with her family?" Elijah challenged frankly. To his annoyance, Klaus just smirked at him.

"I suggest you take your leave now, Niklaus," Elijah warned him.

At that, the hybrids stepped back from the humans and towards Klaus protectively. Klaus just raised his eyebrows at him. His brother was strong, but to take on Klaus' hybrids and himself would be ridiculous.

"If you don't, then you'll have Kol to deal with," Elijah added on, the implied threat clear in his tone that Kol wouldn't be alone. With that, the passenger door of the SUV opened and a pair of boots stepped out.

Klaus looked over and the smirk fell off his face at the sight of the youngest Mikaelson brother. He had his hands stuffed into his jacket pocket casually with a broad smug grin on his face, having heard the entire exchange. He gave a taunting nod towards his half-brother.

"You brought Kol?" Klaus' voice took on a whole new tone, the confidence faltering on his expression. This certainly shifted the dynamic.

Elijah just regarded him coolly, his gaze warning him to get in the car and leave. Kol took a few strides to stand next to Elijah, the smirk ever present on his lips and the resemblance between the two brothers clearer than ever.

In the distance, the sound of sirens started to grow louder and closer. A few seconds later, Klaus caught the faint hints of blue and red filtering through the trees. The police would be here in moments.

Shifting in agitation, he recognized this could turn into a slaughter quickly, but it wasn't meant for tonight. He gave a nod toward his hybrids. With unspoken direction, they stirred to life suddenly, heading for the two vehicles.

The two Originals didn't bother stopping them while they watched each one disappear and the engines roar to life.

Maggie didn't pay the exchange any heed. She didn't look up from Glenn's face while tears started to run down hers. Her fingers ran over his cheeks, begging for him to wake up and not to accept how cold his skin was growing each moment. She didn't pay attention to how wet her knees were getting, from the growing pool of blood underneath his body.

Elijah and Kol remained standing where they were while watched the delivery truck and the SUV pull through the circle of the driveway towards the road. The Atlanta group was left free to fight against the restraints, being able to speak to each other now and help each other remove them. Shouts grew in the driveway as Stefan and Damon moved to help them. Damon remained near Maggie, unsure whether to approach her or not.

"And Mr. Salvatore," Elijah's voice carried over, addressing the two brothers. "Next time you wish to get my attention, I suggest you contact Dr. Fell instead of Nikalus," He advised him in a tone that was more of a warning.

Stefan stopped while loosening the binds from Hershel's wrists. He could only give the Original a numb nod, unable to really bother questioning him about it now.

"Kol," Elijah gave his brother a curt nod towards the vehicle, not wanting to stick around for the interrogation from the police when they showed up. Elijah gave Maggie one last lingering glance before heading back toward the driver's seat.

Kol followed his gaze and stopped at Maggie. He heard the cries the entire time, but he did his best to ignore them. Now, seeing her hunched over the human, twisted with anguish and pain, struck him. The smirk fell off his lips and while he watched Damon try to coax her away from the body. She just threw an elbow back at him before clutching back at Glenn's shirt.

Absentmindedly, his hand reached up and rubbed at his chest, shifting the fabric of the jacket. He couldn't put his finger on why it stood out to him. He had seen humans mourn before over lost loved ones. He had seen ones that wailed a little louder and shed more tears. Her mourning wasn't any different or any more special than any other pathetic mortal, he told himself.

So why was he standing there? Why did a little part of him twist uncomfortably as he watched her?

"Kol," Elijah's voice broke him out of his thoughts. He snapped out of it and stepped back towards the SUV briskly.

The two brothers got into the SUV and started down the driveway soon after. It turned out off the driveway and into the opposite direction on the street only seconds before the police vehicles started to arrive.

The scene was a blur to Maggie. There was shouting from Daryl and Rick as they came to Glenn's side along with Maggie. Someone tried to pull her away from Glenn, she let out an animalistic shriek and fought against them. It took two people to pull her by each arm. Police officers poured out of the vehicles and her cries became blurred with Carol and Beth's. A baby's cry rose into the air as well.

"He's not coming back, Maggie," She heard Damon's voice amongst the chaos. "Even if he had vampire blood, he can't…" His voice trailed out, not needing to point out what was missing.

A gunshot that went off, one single shot. Maggie buckled and fought against her restraints. Then there was a piercing pain in her shoulder and the darkness took control of her conscious.

* * *

"So long, walkerbait. It's been a good run," Daryl grunted out, a hand patting against the gleaming dark wood.

The sun was mockingly bright that morning.

Maggie felt like nothing more than a walking corpse. She stirred several hours after being vervained by the police, to find herself at the police station with the others. Some of them had been sent to the hospital, like baby Judith and Carl to get checked on. She managed to talk Sheriff Forbes into letting herself out. It was eerily similar to how they arrived before, but everything was different and worse.

They were released shortly afterwards and the Council stepped forward with their condolences and the funeral arrangements. They were quick to produce a coffin and a vacant burial plot in the Mystic Falls cemetery.

They declined any sort of service. It didn't seem right to have some pastor that they never met before to speak about Glenn. It didn't seem right to recite bible prayers when most of them had lost their faith a long time ago because of the world they lived in. They kept it to just the group with Carol wheeling Hershel to the service before they would have to return to the hospital for treatment.

Maggie stood there, wearing the only black she had in jeans and a dark shirt. She stood there and listened to Rick speak first. It tore at her to listen to Rick recall how it had been Glenn to save him from the tank when he was overrun in Atlanta, how it was Glenn that gave him a chance when no one else would have and he had and always had sacrificed everything for the group.

She stood there, breaking a little on the inside while her father spoke about how he had come to consider Glenn a son. She twisted with guilt while he clutched onto the family pocket watch he had found on Glenn's body.

One by one, the Atlanta members trickled away from the black coffin. Each of them saying a few words before going. In a way, it reminded her of when they lost Dale, but this wound cut deeper. Glenn had been there since the beginning and while she had always mentally prepared herself for the chance that he might die, it didn't seem like he would. She clutched to Beth through Rick and Hershel's words, the relief of being reunited with her family overshadowed by Glenn's death.

Hershel was the one that said to take her time when he was the last one there with Carol. Maggie only nodded numbly while Carol wheeled him away. It went unspoken that she needed her moment. She had been silent through the whole ceremony.

Her shoulders shook with new tears in her eyes. Silence fell over the summer morning, still a little humid from the morning dew steaming off. She stepped unsteadily towards the closed coffin. The plot was picked out, but the ground hadn't been broken in the short notice. The coffin was laid out on a tarp for the burial later. There was no headstone, but there would be.

It would say Glenn Rhea.

Maggie sank down to her knees next to the wooden box, the plastic of the tarp crunching underneath. Her hands went to the polished finish, running over it helplessly as the first sob ripped from her lips.

"I'm so sorry," She whispered, shaking her head. "It wasn't supposed to be you. It wasn't supposed to be. He was supposed to turn Carol and I could have saved her," Maggie murmured frantically. None of this was supposed to happen this way. She was supposed to fix this.

And now Glenn was gone, for good. And there were so many things he never knew.

Like he died believing that she still loved him, unaware of all the times she had lied to him.

Her shoulders shook as the guilt racked through her. "I've done so wrong by you," Maggie realized as her fingers clutched to the coffin.

"I shouldn't have lied and pushed you away," Maggie's stomach churned as all the feelings came to surface of times that may or may not actually have happened. But they did for her and that's why it burned through her veins.

"I didn't want to you to get hurt… but I was so selfish about it," Maggie confessed. "I should have done it differently. I should have done better by you."

Her voice hiccupped a little as she was left gasping for air, tasting on her own tears on her lips. But she kept going, "You gave me _every_thing… but I couldn't do that. It was so wrong of me and you deserve better than that. You deserve someone that would sacrifice everything for you."

Maggie paused to wipe some of the tears away from her eyes, her vision beginning to blur a bit, but it was a vain effort. She looked down the length of the coffin.

"Maybe Bonnie would have been good for you," Maggie stated aloud. Maybe there had been something there, but Maggie was the one holding him back. Maybe Bonnie would have been willing to sacrifice everything for him. "Maybe she could have made you smile," Maggie grimaced, remembering the comment he had made to her at the Lockwood party.

But now they would never know.

"I'm so sorry, Glenn," Maggie's broke with another series of sobs at that thought. Her hand went up to her mouth, which distorted and twisted, unable to form any more words. She could bring herself to voice how she loved him, but she didn't love him enough. She cared about him, but didn't protect him. She thought of him, but she had forgotten him.

"He was doomed the moment he met you," A feminine voice interrupted next to Maggie.

Maggie froze, opening her eyes and pulling the hand away from her mouth. Her muscles knotted up with tension as the words rung through her mind. Slowly, she moved her eyes along the ground to the source, a pair of black high heels and smooth pale legs.

"Excuse me?" Maggie hissed out between her teeth, her anguish morphing into something else entirely poisonous. How dare someone say such a thing to her right now?

"His death was assured by his involvement in your life," The woman continued to speak in an accent that didn't belong to this country or time period. Maggie's gaze followed up her figure, which wore a simple black dress with an empire waist. How kind of her to dress for the occasion.

Maggie rose to her feet slowly as their gazes met, brown and emerald. Her long blonde hair was set in loose curls over her shoulders. Where had she come from? Maggie didn't even hear her approaching.

"Just as your involvement with my children has assured your death," She continued on meaningfully.

Maggie's eyes widened with alarm, hearing the words but thrown by the eerie manner this stranger stood with her hands tucked in front of her, like another mourner in the cemetery.

The woman didn't stop there. She could see that she had Maggie's undivided attention. "Don't you see it? Don't you see how much death and destruction vampires have caused? How many people have you lost because of them?" She began to rattle the names off calmly, but with a warm sympathetic hue in her eyes, "Carol. Glenn. Countless ancestors of yours, even your own life."

"Esther," Maggie realized aloud, hardly believing she was saying the name. She thought the Original Witch was dead. No, she knew for a fact she was, but here she was looking very real and sounding very alive before her.

Esther smirked a little bit at the recognition.

"What are you doing here?" Maggie asked suspiciously, thinking of the stories she had heard of the witch. Maggie squared her shoulders and had to fight the urge to take a natural step back from her. She was dead. She couldn't harm her, right?

"You don't need to be afraid of me, child. I've been watching over you," Esther said in a soothing tone, seeing the defensive stance of Maggie, like a cornered animal.

"Why?" Maggie blurted out harshly, having never liked the idea of someone looking over her shoulder. "Why me?" She never owed the witch anything.

Esther just smiled at her calmly, undeterred by the attitude. "Because I'm the one that brought you back," She declared knowingly.

"What?" It felt like the air rushed out of Maggie's lungs.

"I know what you are and I know what you can do. We all saw what happened to you, but I brought you back with my powers and channeling the Bennett line _you_ helped restore," Her tone picked up almost into a sense of glee towards the end, marveling in the power that had been restored to the Bennett family line because of the doppelganger. Because of that action, Esther was given a second opportunity to correct the wrong she had committed.

Maggie shook her head, still trying to wrap her mind around the fact she was talking a ghost. "Who's 'we'?" She asked numbly, feeling her mind beginning to reel. Someone had brought her back, but she wasn't expecting this.

"Every Bennett witch I channeled and myself," Esther answered her question smoothly.

Maybe that was how Sheila Bennett knew about her dying twice over, Maggie realized, but at the same time she had to also acknowledge she saw a ghost from the Other Side and not just a hallucination.

No, this couldn't be a hallucination. This was a little too creative to give her mind credit.

"Why?! Why would you do that?" Maggie snapped out, unable to see the motive behind it. Bringing back someone from the death was a big deal. Why would Maggie be the top of her priority list?

"Because you can help me finish what I started," Esther took a step towards Maggie, each word passionate with her conviction. She wasn't discouraged by the alienated look she was receiving from Maggie. "My family, they're abomination. I betrayed nature by creating them, but you have the chance to help me fix it."

Maggie stared at her in shock. "You want me to kill them," She voiced the realization aloud. Esther's lips pulled upwards at the declaration in confirmation. Maggie shook her head, "They're your children. You've been watching all this time, correct?"

Esther's eyes narrowed at where she was going with this, but she nodded once.

"Then you've seen me with your son, you've seen how he can change. Doesn't that mean anything to you?" Maggie scoffed in disbelief.

Some of the warmth in Esther's tone disappeared as she answered her severely, "I love my family, Maggie, but their happiness has come at the cost of thousands of lives. I've felt the pain of every death and the destruction they have caused. Kol and Niklaus slaughter with no regard for life and Rebekah gives into every whim. Even Elijah, in all his honor and morals slays the lives of innocents in the name of his cause."

Incensed by her words, Esther took a step forward to Maggie and gathered her hands in his. The doppelganger couldn't feel her touch or tear her eyes away from the captivating gaze while she listened to the witch's plight.

"Think of all the people that have died because of my children… How your life has been altered and determined beyond your control because of them," Esther urged her. Maggie couldn't help but think of the original ritual that Rosemarie was sacrificed in, starting this whole mess. Her gaze fell down to their hands, the way Esther grasped onto them like a life line as she thought about it.

"You can help me right this wrong, together we can restore the balance," Esther reassured one final time.

Maggie couldn't help but be subdued by the smoothness of her voice and the genuine belief in them. It was admiral how passionate she was about this cause. She couldn't deny the logic behind it either. So many people had died because of vampires and they would continue to while they existed.

Images of her children's faces flashed through her mind. A burning seed of anger, itching for revenge ignited just thinking about Niklaus. Elijah and Rebekah didn't deserve that wrath though, no matter what odds she may be with them now that neither recalled who she was.

Of course there was Kol. How dare she ask her to snuff the life of her mate.

Maggie picked up her gaze to Esther harshly. She looked the witch in the eye before uttering each word very pronouncedly and fiercely, "Esther, you're insane."

Maggie yanked her hands away from the ghost roughly. The smile and any pleasantness in Esther's expression evaporated in an instant. It was replaced by an ancient and chilling look.

It felt the seconds had slowed as they ticked by between the two. Maggie took a very pointed step back away from the witch, making it very clearing she was not standing with her or on her side with this. And for a brief moment, Maggie grew concerned with the cold and stony expression that had taken over Esther's face.

"Ms. Greene," A third voice startled Maggie. She visibly jumped and closed her eyes reflexively, feeling her heart skip several beats.

When she opened them again, Esther was completely gone from sight. Blinking a few times, Maggie looked around for her, but found nothing. She turned around to find who had interrupted.

He stood there in a black suit with clean and crisp lines. He had a small bouquet of white lilies in one hand as he stared at her with a slightly perplexed and suspicious look.

"Who are you talking to?" He asked over her politely.

Maggie's gaze passed over him while he took several calm steps towards her, particularly his sharp and angular features she had only gotten a glimpse of the night before. As she remembered, his hair was combed without a hair out of place. He wore a simple, but ionic family ring on his finger as his daylight ring.

"Elijah?"

* * *

_Author's Note: RIP Walkerbait. I feel like I need Chris Hartwick to do an In Memoriam right now.  
_

_And holy Mama Original. How many people saw that coming? I bet you weren't expecting her to be the one that wanted Maggie back. _

_Let me hear your thoughts and feelings! Especially on all the Original action and Glenn's death. That was definitely one of the toughest deaths for me to write so far. I'm also curious to hear what you think of the Lucy, Kol and Maggie interaction. Especially since something is clearly wrong with Kol, he's confused and all over the place. I decided to use some infamous TVD season three quotes in this chapter, kudos to anyone that can pick them out!_

_So please please review! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday._

_Review responses –_

_M: So remember when I said it would get easier for Maggie? Yeah, that wasn't this chapter. But yes, more ghosts! And we may see Rose, but I wouldn't count on her being a supporter of Maggie. She didn't like her before, especially with how she lied and manipulated Damon, and we're starting to see her do the same thing again anyway. (as far as lying goes) Whether or not Maggie will break the news to her family is hard to tell, she's not one for sharing her burdens and with Glenn's death, that's going to impact how she handles everything greatly. And I'm glad other people want to see some Malijah! I wanted to too, so we'll be getting some of that. ;)_

_L: I was going to bring Rebekah into this chapter again, but I decided to cut that scene. I hope that doesn't disappoint and you still love this chapter!_

_Guest: That's a pretty interesting theory, but I'm not going to confirm or deny anything! Thank you for the review and I hope you enjoy this chapter._


	5. Chapter 5

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_Chapter Song: _

_Breaking Benjamin - Give Me a Sign_

_Scenes: Maggie running & The Hospital_

_Kari Kimmel – Black_

_Scenes: Maggie's downward spiral_

_Cary Brothers – If You Were Here_

_Scene: Kol leaving the hospital and the end of the chapter_

_Chapter Five_

"Who are you talking to?" He asked over her politely.

Maggie's gaze passed over him while he took several calm steps towards her, particularly his sharp and angular features she had only gotten a glimpse of the night before. As she remembered, his hair was combed without a hair out of place. He wore a simple, but ionic family ring on his finger as his daylight ring.

"Elijah?"

* * *

There was a sharp squeak to the faucet as he turned the water on. It was grating to his nerves and he doubted that humans could hear it. He dipped the washcloth under the current and briefly wondered if it would be better to use warm or cold water. This shouldn't be happening, whatever this thing was.

He didn't have the patience to wait for the water to warm up.

Kol looked up to the bathroom mirror, a grim line set on his expression. He was leaning heavily against the marble countertop. His breathing was already coming in short and labored breaths, forcing them through his nostrils to keep calm. Getting his shirt off he thought was the worst part, but looking at himself in the mirror it looked like it was just beginning.

That rash, it had been a simple scratch and the occasional itch. Then it began to welt and spread. Almost like poison ivy, he thought bitterly, remembering Lucy's teasing.

But now it had spread across his chest, covering both pectorals and up to his collarbones.

That wasn't even the part that alarmed him the most.

No, it was the spider web blood radiating across his skin from his heart. It felt like the blade of a hot knife was being scraped against his skin when they first started to appear. It soaked through his shirt before he was able to peel the fabric off.

Now, he balled up the wash cloth in his hand and took a deep breath, steeling his expression and shoulders. He raised it to his chest, to wipe away the blood and get a better look at the mysterious wound.

As soon as the cloth touched his skin, Kol let out a vicious hiss between his teeth. His jaw clenched together tightly while he ran a swipe across his skin.

He dropped the washcloth in the sink when he couldn't take it any longer. The red mixed with the water before starting to dye the ceramic a pale hue. His eyes were fixated on the lacerations though. They were fine and jagged, it almost looked like the very veins just beneath his skin started to split open.

They were moving, he realized, growing.

"Why isn't it healing?" Kol wondered aloud, truly beginning to panic.

Maybe he needed blood and his body wasn't able to keep up without whatever this aliment is. He needed blood, but he was in no condition to go out hunting like this.

Kol shut the water off roughly, taking a few deep breaths to try to steady himself against the counter. There was one place that always had blood and never closed, he thought.

* * *

Her breath came out heavily, just as the sound of her boots echoed off the pavement. The yellow lines down the center of the road had long since faded from neglect, only the remnants of them strayed from their path in her vision. Her chest heaved with each breath as her legs protested with the ache in her muscles and the jarring impact in her knees.

It was nothing compared to the searing pain in her forearm though. Her other hand clutched to her right arm as she stared determinedly forward, trying to blink the blurriness away from her eyes.

The next thirty yards of pavement carried on exactly like the last, deserted of vehicles and cracking under the harsh heat of Virginia.

Hell, at this point, she wasn't even convinced she was going the right way anymore.

Her ankle gave a twist as she stumbled off the shoulder of the road. She caught herself before she could fall over by stopping to lean her shoulder against a tree trunk. The trees just stressed out endlessly before her in this terrain, she missed Georgia. At least they didn't hug the roads as closely here.

For a moment, she looked down at her arm. Her hands were soaked and slick with sweat, but mostly blood. They were stained red and some of her fingers were even sticking together because of it. That wasn't what concerned her though, it was the rather gaping bite mark on her right forearm.

And by bite mark, she meant more like remains of her flesh hanging on after having been torn by the rotten incisors of that walker.

Maggie pushed herself off of the tree trunk to keep going. She had to keep going, there wasn't any other option other than surviving, not even when she could feel the liquid acidic way the venom was beginning to spread through her.

It should only be another mile, or maybe three. She honestly wasn't sure anymore when she felt her frantic sprint slow down once more.

It was too hard to tell what was the glare of the sun, the horizon, or the reflection against the pavement in her eyes. They ran together and she had trouble keeping her eyes open, especially with the stinging salt of sweat smearing into them.

Maggie stopped again, unable to get a proper breath and feeling the pain up to her shoulder. It just shook her entire frame, each movement of her arm was excruciating. She pressed her back against a tree trunk for support.

The crunch of gravel was her only indication that she sank to a seat on the shoulder of the road. She had only been vaguely aware of her knees giving out while she squinted up towards the sky, trying to manage just one good deep breath.

Maggie looked down at herself. Her jeans were slick and heavy, sticking to her like a second layer of sweat. She honestly wasn't sure what was her blood and what was walker blood on her clothing anymore. Her left hand fumbled over her belt and the holster she used for the machete, passing over it to the only other supply she had brought with her.

It had been a long time since she prayed and she doubted it was even worth it, but she could really use a sign this time.

She pulled out the bright red horn with the small canister. Her thumb slipped on the plastic before she the high pitched noise ripped through the air. She flinched from the loudness and she just hoped it would get the attention of something other than walkers this time.

She closed her eyes, choosing to focus her dwindling energy on the short bursts of the air horn, followed by a long one and another short one. She couldn't help but think about how only a short week ago she had been talking to Elijah in the cemetery and now she was here…

* * *

"Elijah?"

Maggie wasn't sure if she was more tense or less with the Original standing before her, especially considering she had only seen his lethal mother a moment ago. She had been barely aware of him the previous night, but she was obviously distracted at the time.

Elijah gave the faintest of nods at the recognition, his brow still set firmly.

"What are you doing here?" Maggie blurted out, not addressing his initial question and for a moment her eyes flickered down to the lilies in his hands.

Elijah stepped closer, removing some of the distance between them while also looking down to the flowers in his hands while he collected what he wanted to say. "I wanted to pay my respects," He admitted frankly, looking up to catch a suspicious look from Maggie.

"I know no apology will ever make up for your loss and what my brother has done. My only regret is that I didn't come sooner," Elijah said remorsefully but in a polite tone, pausing to glance at the casket, "May I?"

Maggie swallowed thickly and only gave a slight nod, taking a step back from the black wood to allow him room. She didn't trust herself with words at the moment, especially since sympathy wasn't exactly what she expected from him. After all, their real first meeting had been under much more hostile circumstances.

Elijah stepped up to the head of the coffin, leaving Maggie to stare at his profile as he took a moment. He carefully laid the lilies on top of the wood, the white pedals seeming even brighter in contrast to the wood. Maggie watched the way his fingers lingered on the polished finish and he bowed his head, lost in his own thoughts.

The way he looked at the coffin, Maggie would have thought he had lost someone he knew. But maybe that's what it felt like to feel the loss of innocent lives.

"Who was he?" Elijah asked quietly.

Maggie cleared her throat before replying, "My boyfriend."

A small sigh escaped from Elijah and he closed his eyes a moment. "I'm sorry for your loss," He murmured finally before turning away from the coffin and towards her.

Maggie just gave a tight lip nod, not particularly comforted by the words, but the simple gesture of him showing up at all.

Elijah stepped before Maggie, his expression remaining solemn but his tone less accusing than the first time as he pointed out, "You know who I am."

Maggie had to force herself to look him in the eyes, ringing her fingers into an anxious knot in front of her, "Yes."

"And who were you talking to?" Elijah pressed his first question back to the forefront. "I heard you speaking to someone else, but yet there is no one here," He gestured a hand lightly to the side around them.

Maggie's eyes widened, feeling that fleeting of flash of panic at being caught. "I…" She struggled, not sure what to admit, especially with the rather stoic but pointed expression on Elijah.

"I heard you speaking to Esther, Ms. Greene," Elijah stated firmly, shutting down any chance for her to deny she was speaking to anyone. He just hoped it wasn't the Esther he was familiar with and someone different.

Maggie had to try very hard to not step back from Elijah. It wasn't just a hardened man with the aurora of an impersonal businessman in front of her. No, she knew beneath those dark amber eyes was a lethal creature that could snap her neck with the flick of a wrist.

Maggie shook her head, not exactly having a real answer for him anyway. "I've… been seeing ghosts since I woke up in the hospital," She left out the why or how, giving a hesitant shrug of her shoulders with her words.

Elijah inclined his head and took a deep inhale.

Maggie had to look away from the scrutinizing look, dropping her gaze to the gleaming coffin. How twisted things had gotten, she thought, and it seemed so much faster than last time.

"Who?" Elijah asked curtly.

Despite the interrogative nature of his questions, Maggie realized she was relaxing a bit by bit in his presence. He wasn't threatening in his delivery and it almost reminded her of the previous walks they had gone on, just minus the hidden corpses around them.

"Dead witches mostly," Maggie gave vaguely, choosing to turn and start to slowly walk away from the coffin. She didn't want to be talking about this next to Glenn.

Elijah didn't bother questioning where she was going, naturally turning with her to mirror her steps. His mind was too busy spinning gears. "Witches…" Elijah spoke hesitantly, "As in –"

"Your mother, Esther. Yes," Maggie finished for him, seeing how apprehensive he was.

A noise escaped from his chest that was somewhere between a groan and incredulous gasp.

Maggie watched the way he shook his head faintly, looking absently in front of them and not really taking in the numerous tombstones. The way he gritted his teeth, the discreet sign of his aggravation briefly made her worry.

But it softened up immediately when he looked back at Maggie and she realized it wasn't directed at her. "And what precisely did Esther want?" Elijah refused to address her as his mother and doubted it was a blessing of goodwill she brought.

"Just the usual, doom and gloom… help me murder all of my children plan," Maggie blurted out before she thought better of it. She was emotionally tired from the whole situation and the filter on her thoughts wasn't quite up to what it should be.

Elijah quirked an eyebrow at her frankness. He was actually taken back and didn't know what to say.

He heard her heart pick up and saw the nervous glance she gave him.

"I see you've had the pleasure of meeting Damon Salvatore's acquaintance," Elijah remarked, figuring that was the only realistic source of such sarcasm and backstory on his family rolled into one. Somehow he doubted if Maggie was going to assist Esther she would admit to doing it like she just did.

Maggie noticed there was no hint of endearment in his tone. Who could blame him? The baby vampire had used a flame thrower on his body.

"That's one way of putting it," Maggie muttered dryly, thinking pleasure wasn't high on the list of terms to describe her relationship with Damon at the moment.

Elijah stopped in his steps, turning to face Maggie with his eyes narrowed.

Maggie halted, matching his movements with her eyes widening. "What?" She asked, startled at his shift in demeanor. Had she gone too far?

"You're just…" Elijah paused, the words hanging on his lips while his eyes tried to decipher. "Not what I was expecting."

Maggie wasn't sure if it was wonder or suspicion in his gaze, but she wasn't too interested to find out. She couldn't help but think of their first meeting and she tensed her shoulders defensively. She nodded shortly, "I'm not Rose."

"No, you're not," Elijah confessed.

Maggie didn't know what to make of his meaningful tone, but her steps picked up more briskly, feeling defensive. "And if you've come here to tell me about her, I already know about the werewolf ritual and her using vampire blood to escape it. I know why she was running from you all that time," Maggie declared while looking ahead.

Elijah's eyebrows rose and he opened his mouth to protest.

Maggie cut him off by snapping on the afterthought with a quick glance, "Ghosts talk." Again, it wasn't a lie to her, just another overstretched truth.

Elijah clamped his mouth thoughtfully, for a moment remaining silent while he took all of this in, especially the edgy attitude of the doppelganger. He slowed to a halt when they came into sight of the rest of the Atlanta group gathered around a police cruiser and one van, which was brought for the wheelchair Hershel was in.

"I actually wasn't going to mention her today," Elijah admitted, causing Maggie to stop once again and look at him in surprise. The two were still out of earshot from the rest of the group. She could practically feel some of the curious glances sent towards them, but she didn't look away from Elijah as he explained, "It wouldn't be appropriate with everything your family is going through right now. Another day, perhaps, but not today."

Maggie's hardened expression eased up at that, it was hard not with the sympathetic look he was giving her. She folded her arms over her chest, less out of a defensive gesture but from feeling anxious at the gravity of the conversation. She hesitated for a long while before responding, but the Original didn't seem the least bit phased by it.

"It's the past," Maggie gave a shrug, casually glancing away to see Carol looking at her oddly. "It's buried for a reason and I'm okay with leaving it that way," She said, also knowing the more that Klaus uncovered, the less time she had to live.

Elijah cocked her head at the maturity of her statement. "Indeed, and I must confess I wish my siblings shared the same thought," He mused loud, not intending to voice his honest opinion but he was finding she had a level of reason to her. He added on gravely, "That being said I cannot promise to protect you against them…"

Maggie turned back to Elijah quickly. "Because they're a bunch of impulsive, uncontrollable maniacs?" She offered bluntly, remembering their quiet words after the Lockwood party.

Elijah was almost offended by her words, almost, until he saw the slight upturn of her lips at the corners of her mouth. A rare grin broke out of his in return, seeing the lightest her expression looked in their entire conversation at the jesting, but serious jab.

"Precisely," He agreed, seeing the understanding starting to form between them.

The light grin faded quickly, only a brief moment of relief, before Maggie nodded and the solemnness returned. She heard the sound of car doors opening and shutting carry through the air.

It was time for her to go, but she knew it wouldn't be the last of Elijah she saw. Another day, but not today, as he had said.

"Thank you for coming, Elijah," Maggie gave gratefully and finally while turning away from him, towards her group. He didn't bring any good news with him, but at least it had been a break from the tears.

Elijah nodded once and bided her as she left, "Take care and be safe, Ms. Greene."

He watched her go as she rejoined the group. There was a few low murmurs between her and Carol before she was shepherded into the police cruiser with a few of the others. Like Rose, she was just supposed to be a doppelganger, a sacrifice for the greater good. It was hard to think of her just as simply as that with seeing her pain, her tears and her strength.

* * *

The Atlanta group spent the next two days at the hospital. It was mostly for Hershel, Carol and the children though. The children were cleared pretty quickly, especially once it was determined that Judith was a healthy baby, just in the need of some nourishment. Carol hadn't originally intended on being admitted, but once the doctors heard about her being trapped in the tombs for several days they wanted to be on the safe side.

The group slept and remained in the waiting room, which was more comfortable than the places they had previously stayed. Maggie remained in the corner, quiet and withdrawn from the others. They didn't pressure her to talk or ask about the tears that rolled down her cheeks occasionally. Glenn was still fresh on their minds and they were struggling to keep up with the barrage of new information and the situation they were now facing.

She found out she didn't have the energy to explain to them the supernatural world. It fell largely on Sheriff Forbes' shoulders and some of the other officers. They spent a lot of time talking with the group, which Maggie remained sitting in the back row amongst the group just listening. She listened to them explain vampires and hybrids, what they saw that night and how they stressed that wasn't what Mystics Falls stood for.

The cautious glances between Rick and Hershel told Maggie they weren't convinced.

Maggie stayed out of the arrangements of their new living quarters. The Sheriff suggested the same gray house. It was just like a sick record on repeat in her mind. In those two days, Maggie learned that something felt deep-seated and wrong about time traveling, like her very body was rejecting it. It recognized that it didn't belong here and she felt like a disconnected ghost because of it. She didn't sleep well, her body ached and most of the time she just pushed her food around instead of eating it. She would pass it off onto someone else when her father wasn't looking.

The second night at the hospital she didn't want to stay there, but she didn't have the boardinghouse to turn to this time. So instead, she went to the only other place she was welcomed so far; Lucy's home.

Lucy answered the door, if she was surprised to see the doppelganger, she didn't show it. Maggie apologized for showing up unexpectedly, but the witch shushed her immediately and ushered her inside. When Maggie stepped into the hallway, she glanced towards the living room and stopped when she noticed someone else there.

A young brunet male was sitting on Lucy's couch with his feet propped up on the coffee table. Maggie wasn't sure what was more out of place, the gleaming bright pair of Nike's on his feet or the iPad in his hands that he was currently running his fingers across rather intently. Maggie cocked her head, what the heck was he doing with an iPad?

"Oh that's Seamus," Lucy piped up, seeing Maggie's confused look. She gave in a pointed tone before turning and head towards the kitchen, "Who's _supposed_ to be helping Bonnie with the electrical…"

Seamus scrunched his nose and waved a hand dismissively in Lucy's direction, like if he was swatting away an annoying mosquito.

Maggie had to guess he only graduated a few years ago, but might have been younger than her. It still seemed odd for her to see anyone wearing a high school football jacket. The warlock looked up from the iPad for the first time really noticing Maggie. The annoyed expression quickly broke into a broad grin as his eyes passed over her.

"Well hello there, gorgeous," Seamus suddenly perked up.

Maggie just gave him an unimpressed look. "Not a chance in hell, buddy," She denied and turned to follow after Lucy into the kitchen.

Seamus was left with his mouth open, staring after her. But after a moment, he just shrugged his shoulders and went back to his game.

Once in the kitchen, Maggie apologized again for showing up unexpectedly. Lucy waved it off, saying the doppelganger was welcomed to show up here any time to get away from the vampires that she wanted. And with that, Lucy put Maggie to work to help her prepare for dinner. Honestly though, Maggie was fine with that. It was actually comforting to be in a kitchen she wasn't familiar with and one that she wouldn't have to pretend to not know where everything was.

It didn't take long for Seamus to saunter into the kitchen. He made himself comfortable on the island, letting his feet dangle while munching on an apple. He watched the women getting dinner prepared, asked repeated questions about what was for dinner without actually offering to help for anything. He was a smartass, Maggie figured out, with vulgar language that could be a little grating on the nerves.

Apparently, it got to Lucy's nerves first. "Seamus, go out to the greenhouse and get me a couple of green tomatoes," Lucy ordered after clearing her throat. The young warlock opened his mouth to protest, but thought better of it since she was cooking his food too.

He begrudgingly jumped down from the counter and a moment later Maggie heard the glass sliding down close behind him. It was a few moments after that while Maggie was chopping some of the greens on the cutting board that she learned Lucy was more observant than she had initially credited her for.

Lucy finished stirring a pot on the stove before suddenly asking, "Maggie, were you sired to Kol?"

The blade of the knife smacked loudly against the board. Maggie's shoulders tensed and she let out a low deep breath. That was close to losing a finger as she stared down at her hands. She clenched her jaw and didn't respond right away.

"I mean before," Lucy stared at her back, gauging her reaction. "You were a vampire, weren't you?" Her tone wasn't accusing, but it was hard to avoid.

Maggie slowly turned towards her, eyes wide with alarm. "How did you know?" She asked. She hadn't told any living person about that.

"I sensed it the other day when I shook your hand," Lucy explained while Maggie set the knife down, turning to face Lucy fully. "It wasn't quite what I normally sense on a vampire, but it was a trace…"

"A trace?" Maggie wondered aloud, not quite sure she was following the witch.

"Yes, most witches can sense a vampire… They assume it's because they're unbalance of nature, but many don't realize vampires were created by a servant of nature. It's the magic they're sensing," Lucy explained, figuring Maggie was familiar with the story of the Originals by this point.

Maggie nodded numbly, figuring it made sense when she put it like that. She bit her lip, feeling the pressure to answer her first question. Lucy had sensed the vampire nature from the beginning, but she was left to wonder about Kol with the way Maggie arrived on her doorstep and the spat the two had in her kitchen.

Maggie glanced towards the sliding glass doors, but didn't see Seamus coming back from the greenhouse.

What information could she afford to give away? So far Lucy had kept her secrets it seemed, but it was still hard to tell.

"I was a vampire before," Maggie admitted before correcting, "I was sired by Kol, but I wasn't sired to him." At least she knew enough to know there was a significant difference, especially with what Lucy was trying to imply.

Lucy nodded thoughtfully and Maggie shifted under her gaze. Her look was scrutinizing but Maggie could tell it was because she was trying to figure out her situation and not necessarily because of her personally.

The sliding glass door opened and Seamus poked his head inside with a confused look. "Hey, uhhh…" He adjusted the baseball cap on his head loosely. "I don't see any tomatoes out there?"

"They're there, behind the watermelon," Lucy spoke up without blinking and turning back to the pot on the stove.

Seamus scrunched his brow up before reluctantly closing the door again and heading back to the greenhouse.

Maggie glanced back towards the greens on her cutting board before the thought occurred to her. "Even if you had tomato plants," Maggie stated, "They wouldn't be in season yet."

Lucy just gave a sly smirk. "You know that," She pointed with her spatula in Maggie's direction than towards herself. "I know that." She pointed outside, "But Seamus doesn't."

Maggie gave a small grin, realizing the beauty of not having Seamus in the kitchen all of the sudden.

The sizzling and bubbling of the hot pan on the stove filled the air while Maggie brought the cut up greens over to Lucy, letting the witch take them from her. Maggie remained by her side, only absently staring at her work while her own thoughts bubbled away.

"That night," Maggie began, figuring this was her best chance as any to ask. "That phone you used… it was Elijah you called, wasn't it?"

It had to be one of the two Original brothers and after talking to Elijah in the cemetery, it seemed clear to Maggie now.

Lucy paused, biting her lip a moment, obviously rolling it around in her mind whether or not to answer her. "Yeah," Lucy said finally. "If anyone could get Klaus to back down in Mystic Falls, it's him."

Maggie wrapped her arms around herself while she tried to fight off the inkling of disappointment that she felt. She knew it was irrational, but a part of her had hoped she had been wrong and it was Kol that Lucy had called.

The witch took her silence as confusion over the cell phone.

"The phone was a trick of Seamus'. He's great with electronics, but don't tell anyone about it," Lucy warned. "As powerful as he is, he has limits too."

Maggie didn't need a teleprompter to know that Lucy was referring to that Council with that. The humans would probably use and abuse such power for everything little piece of technology they had before.

"Sure," Maggie mumbled in agreement. Given that new bit of information, she then had to ask, "So it was Elijah that called in that favor?" She questioned remembering the words from when they left the hospital.

"Yeah, beats me how he knew, but I suspect Dr. Fell probably said something," Lucy admitted casually while she moved over to the refrigerator.

Maggie frowned at her backside, not knowing what that meant, but Lucy kept going while she ducked her head inside.

"He asked me to look after you until he got there and that was after Kol had already come around asking about you," Lucy explained. Maggie picked her head up immediately at the mention of Kol's name. The witch turned around from the refrigerator and returned to the pot on the stove to turn off the heat.

"With both Originals taking an interest in you, I thought heck, you must be something special," Lucy shrugged her shoulders before adding on a teasing light grin.

Maggie tried to return it, but it was more of a strain than anything else. Her phrasing brought a flash of being inside a black SUV after a rainstorm. Maggie shook the thought away quickly, chasing away the bought of déjà vu.

"You hungry?" Lucy offered out to the pot and pulled out a few clean plates.

Maggie glanced down to the food, despite the enticing aroma, she still had to suppress a groan and the way her stomach was already a painful knot.

* * *

The next day the Atlanta group started moving into the Greene house. Even though there was still bloodstains on the wall and overturned furniture with a thick layer of dust, Maggie already thought of it as the Greene house. The group went to work immediately with cleaning the place up and getting it livable again. It was different this time for Maggie, there was no tension between her and Glenn, just the constant reminder that he wasn't there. Daryl and Carol were there though, offering two extras hands and support she had missed.

In the afternoon, Damon came by the house. Maggie was the one that answered the door at the knocking sound and he had to stick his foot out to keep her from immediately slamming it shut in his face.

"Hey, I'm not here to pick a fight," Damon threw his hands in the air, despite how he anxious looked.

"What do you want?" Maggie snapped out then, folding her arms over her chest and making no move to step outside or invite him in.

"I just wanted to drop these off," Damon said, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a set of car keys. Maggie frowned and looked past his shoulder to spot a red Toyota Camry parked in front of the house. Damon gestured down to the box next to his feet as well.

"A car assignment and some vervain on behalf of the Council," Damon explained, offering the keys out to Maggie. The doppelganger's nose wrinkled a little just from the scent coming out of the box.

She stared at him reluctantly for several moments, remembering how it went last time this happened. There was no taunting about kisses, but Maggie didn't doubt this was his attempt at getting back in her good graces.

Finally, she took the keys from his hands and Maggie ignored the smirk on his face.

"You know, getting me some flowers and a car doesn't make up for the fact my ex-boyfriend had his heart ripped out because of you," Maggie spat out before stepping back and shutting the door in his face anyway.

Maggie had a hard time with it. At times she couldn't tell what was the déjà vu coming over her or actually happening. There was only so many times she could scrub the same stains from the carpets, find the same clothes of some passed away Founding family member in the dresser drawers, and take down the same photographs.

When it was too much, she did what she always did; ran. She frequently took long walks through the neighborhood streets, often times without telling anyone. When she got back she would give a vague excuse, but no one really pressed her for details or reprimanded her for it.

She figured out why when one night she overheard Carol talking to Hershel in the kitchen from the staircase.

"Did you see her at dinner? I don't think she even ate," Maggie heard Carol's concern through her words. The constant groaning of Maggie's stomach was the only affirmation. She did eat, when it was absolutely necessary, but she was still spooked by what happened in the hospital.

"I know," Hershel murmured quietly in response while sitting at the dining table. Carol was in the kitchen, fussing over some dishes. Maggie remained on the bottom steps of the staircase, hugging her knees while staring absently down at the ground.

"First, Lori… what she had to do, and now Glenn," Carol commented sympathetically, not really expecting a response from Hershel. She shook her head, this had been the hardest times for the group since fleeing the farm, even though they were technically the safest now.

Maggie had to keep herself from letting out a bitter laugh. Lori. It had been months for Maggie since her death and the nightmares of the boiling room had started to subside, but it was only a few days ago for the group and still fresh for them. It didn't make the supernatural situation any easier for Rick.

"What she went through, no one should have to," Hershel gave wisely. "But I know my daughter, you can't smother her or she'll fight back. You'll push her away, but she's strong." Maggie wasn't sure if his last words he gave more proudly or hopeful. Hoping she would make it through it this.

Maggie didn't see the way Carol nodded regretfully.

At least her father had an idea, Maggie thought, before she pushed herself up from the seat and went upstairs to attempt to sleep that night.

Sleep eluded her more than she caught it. Her mind wouldn't give her a break from the images of that night, the sound of Glenn's body dropping to the ground. It bothered her that sound was so similar to the countless ones of walkers they had struck down. There was nothing unique about it.

But none of them were like the vacant look she saw in Glenn's eyes, devoid of any life and the constant reminder that it shouldn't have been him.

The apparent peace and settling down into the house didn't last for long. It was different this time, Maggie noticed the others didn't worry so much about filling in the gaps of what they needed in the house and seeking out as much replacement furniture. She didn't hear talks between Rick and Hershel about planting in the backyard their own crops.

She found out why one night after Beth and Carl were upstairs to bed and the baby was sleeping. Maggie ended up sitting at the dining table with Carol, Daryl, Rick and her father.

Rick was talking about leaving Mystic Falls.

"We can't stay here," Rick was saying while Maggie sat with her arms folded her chest. She didn't really say much, she was watching the grim expressions on the other survivors but heard no protests. "I need to do what's best for this group and my children… And this town isn't it," Rick declared, pointing a finger down against the wood as he did.

His conviction reminded Maggie of the night he told the group it was no longer a democracy.

"But Rick, where are we supposed to go? This place has a school, a hospital and no walkers. That's exactly what we've been looking for," Carol was the one to protest. For all the dark aspects they had learned about in the few days, the group did get out to see the town square and the Grill. They saw how normal it seemed for everyone else.

"I know," Rick nodded gravely, knowing Carol had a point. "But there's got to be other towns. This can't be the only one, we know now it is possible."

Maggie could think of several towns actually, remembering a set of certain maps, but she kept that to herself.

There was a brief flicker from Daryl while he bit onto the back of his thumb, seeing Rick's logic.

"Do you think it's safe to travel with Judith, Rick?" Hershel interjected, trying to reason with Rick and not obviously sold on the idea yet.

Rick clenched his jaw, staring back at Hershel. He hesitated, knowing how dangerous a newborn on the road would be. "This town is no safer, you saw that thing did to Glenn," His eyes wandered over the group, the distaste heavy as he referred to Klaus. "Walkers we know how to fight, we know how to survive… but these creatures we don't have a chance against."

Silence filled the room, leaving only the flicker of the candlelight against the walls. Carol bowed her head at the reminder, sobering the group.

A lump formed in Maggie's throat and she refused to look up at anyone.

"So we, what? Just leave?" Daryl grunted out, the first to recover.

"I'll admit this town seems to have more secrets than they are sharing and that doesn't settle well with me either," Hershel spoke up, still mistrustful of the police officers and the supposed assistance from the Council. "But do you really think it's wise to leave?"

"We need to do this," Rick reaffirmed, looking Hershel in the eye.

The silent exchange was one between him and the older man, an understanding that the others were aware of but not a part of. Carol frowned, clearly not sold on the idea, but keeping her thoughts quiet.

"Alright, we've trusted you as our leader this far, if you really think that is what's best then it's decided," Hershel declared finally with a meaningful tone while he watched Rick for any sign of faltering. Rick was unusually lucid for the conversation this evening. The other times he seemed distant, looking at things that weren't really there. Losing Lori hadn't been easy.

Rick nodded curtly.

Carol let out a deep exhale.

"Don't be a fool, Rick," Maggie snapped out, speaking up for the first time and startling the other four adults. "Leaving would be a suicide mission," Her expression was stoic and her tone blunt.

Rick stiffened immediately, but held his tongue while Maggie continued on.

"How would we even get out of here? All we have is that Camry," Maggie pointed out, knowing all the vehicles had been left behind at the prison. "Somehow I doubt the Council is going to hand over another and top it off with some gasoline for that matter."

"And even if we made it further than five miles from the county line," Maggie went on, seeing she had their apprehensive attention. The next part, her mind screamed lie and Maggie hoped one day she wouldn't come to regret it. "This is Virginia, not Georgia. We don't know these roads, we don't know what highways are blocked and we could drive right into a herd. We don't have the food or a single bullet. We can't move as fast as we used to," Maggie glanced towards her father, earning a stoic harsh glare at the reminder. "And we have a baby that can cry, attracting every walker nearby at any moment."

"But sure, let's say we do find another town," Maggie's tone grew bitter, almost sarcastic. "What's to say we just won't find more vampires or hybrids?" She used the names they were still having trouble believing while knowing exactly what sort of towns did, New Orleans and Chicago.

Her chair scraped against the floor as Maggie stood up, not wanting to stick around for the rest of the debate. The tension was more than she cared for already.

"Where are you going?" Carol asked Maggie, startled from the abrupt outburst and Maggie's hasty retreat.

She paused at the threshold of the room. "Out," Maggie gave her typical response before adding on, "to the Grill."

"The Grill?" Daryl wondered dubiously.

Maggie hesitated on the truth. She just wanted to get away. She drummed her fingers against the frame of the trim before saying, "We don't have supplies, but supply runs go to the Grill…" Her voice trailed off, seeing Rick get the hint before she slipped from the room.

* * *

Maggie didn't find Jeremy or Matt at the Grill that night because it was too late by the time she got there, but she went back the next day. She ran into Matt at the breakfast serving and introduced herself right away to him. Instead of him asking her if she wanted to work there, she just came out and asked if they needed an extra hand.

She started working that day. Matt and Jeremy showed her around the Grill and Maggie had to play dumb. The teens seemed relieved that she was a quick learner. They didn't have to explain anything more than once. When Jeremy asked about how quickly she was picking things up, Maggie came up with a vague excuse about having experience with food service and bars before.

When she got back to the house, she found that Rick and Daryl were gone. But according to Carol, Rick had reconsidered the immediate idea of leaving. Instead, Maggie had pointed some things the others hadn't quite been willing to say. It was decided that they would prepare and stockpile the necessary supplies, preparing for the first chance to bug out of Mystic Falls when they were ready. Rick went to talk with Sheriff Forbes and Daryl went with Carol to raid some of the abandoned houses. The group figured there were many things in the houses the Council possibly overlooked. Meanwhile Beth and Carl they sent to the school, for the appearance of the group attempting to integrate into the community.

That was how Daryl found some hunting knifes and a new crossbow. Maggie snagged one of the hunting knifes, keeping it on her belt just in case. They decided to keep the supplies they found in the front living room of the house, ready to grab while they figured out the vehicle situation.

The rest of the week went by quicker for the group with a renewed purpose. Each of the adults was doing a little to find out information about the town while trying not to raise suspicion. They started to plow some of the backyard for crops, but it was a halfhearted attempt. The idea was that they would only be there a few weeks at the most.

That was the idea, but Maggie knew better, give it a few weeks and she doubted they would still be willing to leave.

Maggie didn't talk much to others, not even with the prying of Carol. She didn't tell them about her diagnosis, how tired she constantly felt and the dizziness that would ensue from the lack of eating. She still had trouble stomaching food with how strung up she was. The nightmares were vivid and she woke up with a cold sweat several times throughout the night.

She was leaving the Grill after a morning shift when her luck for avoiding vampire, specifically the Salvatore brothers ran out. She knew it was only going to be a matter of time, but that didn't stop the groan she let out when she spotted Stefan and Damon waiting outside the doors for her.

"I just want to talk," Stefan showed his hands in the air non-aggressively immediately when he saw the sudden vicious and defensive look from Maggie. The doppelganger tried to sidestep around the brothers, but Stefan was foremost and blocking her path.

"What do you want?" Maggie snapped out, her eyes darting to Damon, who remained a step back and looked like he was trying very hard not to say anything. Maggie wondered if they had a little pep talk about this confrontation.

Stefan noticed the way Maggie's hand went instinctively to the hilt of the knife tucked into the waist of her jeans. But it stopped there while she staring at him suspiciously.

"I… We," Stefan corrected himself, giving a pointed look back to Damon, "Wanted to see how you were doing…"

"You're kidding me, right?" Maggie sneered, the audacity of the question flooring her. Yeah, she was doing just dandy after seeing her ex's heart ripped out because of them.

Stefan caught on immediately to how awful that sounded. He let out a sigh and shook his head. "Listen, I'm sorry about going to Klaus. I had been told you were okay with it," He gave a look to Damon.

Damon looked like he was literally biting his tongue not to interject, instead just giving his brother an extremely sour look.

"I wouldn't have done it if I knew you weren't okay with it," Stefan said sincerely.

Maggie eased up a little bit and she wanted to curse. Stefan made it hard to remain angry with when he gave that puppy look. A pang when through her at the reminder of the friendship she was missing out with him now.

"Thank you," Maggie said finally, still refusing to look at Damon. She wasn't willing to forgive him.

Stefan nodded, feeling a little relieved to have that off his chest. "We were also wondering… How did you know about Klaus?" His brow furrowed with confusion. Damon's agitation shifted into an equally curious expression.

"Or vampires at all," Damon added on pointedly.

Maggie inhaled deeply and hoped they weren't listening overly closely to her heart rate. It was time to go with the best cover story she could come up.

"Alice," She stated, glancing away from the brothers, really wanting to get away from this conversation.

"Alice?" Stefan raised an eyebrow, the name not sounding overly familiar to him.

"Yeah," Maggie looked him in the eye while she lied and tried not to think about how once again she was building her relationship with the brothers on mostly lies. "She was this girl I knew from college, I always thought she was weird and a little crazy. Anyway, I talked her because not a lot of other people would and she would go on about vampires. Supposedly her boyfriend was one, he owned a coffee shop or something." Maggie gave a hand noncommittally in the air while she spoke, feigning being fuzzy on the details like it was a while ago to recall.

"I guess she wasn't so crazy after all," Maggie added on while glancing between the two vampires.

Stefan looked back to Damon, whose mouth hung open a little. A silent exchange went between them, the gears turning.

"Slater?" Damon questioned his brother. Stefan turned back to Maggie, thinking the same thing. "Was his name Slater?"

Maggie shrugged her shoulders. "Yeah, maybe. I don't know" She lied while her mind screamed yes.

"You knew Alice," Damon's eyebrows rose dubiously, "… from Richmond?"

"Yeah," Maggie snapped harshly, getting impatient with Damon. "I went to Northwestern, she was an out of state student. Are we done here?"

"Wait," Stefan stepped in the way of the two, blocking Damon out. "Did Alice did ever mention anything about Rose or did you meet her?"

"No, like I said, we weren't that close," Maggie said, hoping that reading Stefan's journal would pay off. At the same time, it was easy to blame someone they likely wouldn't be able to contact. "Maybe you should find this Slater guy and ask him," Maggie suggested instead.

"Can't," Damon piped up with irritation. "Thanks to Elijah."

Stefan sighed and nodded in agreement, having heard after the fact about the vampire offing himself under compulsion.

Maggie's face fell, feigning innocence. "Oh," She mumbled simply while really thinking 'Good luck fact checking my cover story.'

Stefan gave a final shrug, glancing back to Damon. Neither of them was entirely pleased with the dead end, but Stefan had to admit it seemed plausible for her to know a little about the supernatural given that.

Taking the opportunity to make a break for it, Maggie turned on her heel and started walking away from the brothers.

"Maggie, wait!" Damon protested and moved to catch up with Maggie.

The doppelganger didn't even slow down her steps, letting Damon follow after her. "What is it, Damon?" Maggie huffed out in tired agitation without actually look at him.

"I get it, you're still pissed at me about what happened… and maybe rightly so," He added onto his words, earning an eye roll from Maggie but she didn't correct him. "But at least give me a chance to make it up to you…"

Maggie sighed and stopped to turn and face him. She didn't want to hate him, and she couldn't help but think of how many times they had previous fought and made up shortly after, but it wasn't going to be that easy this time. "And how are you going to do that?" Maggie questioned dubiously.

"Well…" Damon started, looking like he hadn't actually expected to get that far. He rubbed the back of his neck as he thought about it. "There is the Founder's celebration coming up –"

"No," Maggie cut him off immediately with a scoff. "I'm not going with you," She denied firmly and let out an incredulous huff, getting even more irritated that he would think that would even begin to remotely make up for it. The more she thought about it, the more insulted she was.

She turned on her heel and started marching off down the street again.

"Hey wait," Damon reached out towards Maggie, actually grabbing her arm to stop her this time. "Would you stop being so judgy for one moment and hear me –"

As soon as he grabbed her arm, Maggie lost her thoughts. Her mind flashed to a different time, especially at the nickname of a witch that had brought Maggie down to her knees in front of the Grill.

Reacting on instinct, her hand grabbed the hunting knife from her belt and Maggie spun.

Damon choked on his words as he found himself leaning back with the blade of the knife pressed to his throat. He hadn't expected her to be that fast. He swallowed thickly, looking down at the glint of the steel before catching the poisonous look in Maggie's eyes, really seeing just how angry she was for the first time.

He dropped his hand from her arm immediately.

"Touch me like that again," Maggie hissed out. "I _will_ kill you. And see, the good thing about you being a vampire is I can cut your throat and not feel guilty about it… because I can just do it again later."

Damon winced, not so much for feeling the sharp edge pressed against his skin, but for the fact he didn't doubt that she meant it. For a moment, she looked a lot more lethal than the mortal she was.

Getting no objection from him, Maggie pulled the knife away and gave him one last glare before walking away.

* * *

Replaying their conversation over and over in her mind, Maggie got more incited by it. She found herself walking through the streets of Mystic Falls with the anger course through her veins like a cold poison. Her mind was reaching its breaking point and she was exhausted, but at the same time worked up. She had nowhere to go with all the feelings of pain, loss and anger. She didn't have anyone she could explain what she was going through and it was exhausting to constantly be pretending she didn't know otherwise.

She needed a release.

And the thought came to her when she was mindlessly scavenging through an abandoned garage. She came across some athletic equipment and hunting gear. The family that lived here must have had some active children with a father with a hunting passion.

But the idea came to her when she came across a machete. It wasn't the same one she used before, but she thought back to what Kol had told her as a vampire about letting it go. Lifting the machete up to inspect the blade, Maggie thought it through and glanced back to the athletic equipment, where amongst the referee uniform was a red plastic air horn.

She walked to the county line from there. She thought taking a car, but she didn't want to raise suspicion. She slipped through the wall in a section she knew that construction hadn't been completed in the woods. From there she followed the road for several miles out.

It was a very long walk and it took several hours before she saw the familiar yellow flags of the county line. In hindsight, she was already tired and she probably should have brought water, but she was determined. She was so tired of feeling weak and fragile. She didn't want to be the doppelganger that did nothing while her loved ones were killed. She didn't want to be the girl with cancer to pity.

She wanted to be strong and she wanted to take it back. That was the thought when Maggie crossed the county line, staring ahead to the road and the trees surrounding it. With the machete in one hand, she pulled the air horn from her belt.

She raised the horn in the air and let on it heavily. The high pitched squealing carried through the trees and branches. Maggie let it run quite a while before she tucked it back in her belt and waited.

It only took a few minutes for the first couple of walkers to emerge from the trees. She counted them quickly and shifted to an aggressive stance while they started to shuffle towards her. Thankfully she was at a different part of the county line this time and she wasn't staring at the same corpses she had taken down with Damon.

She kept her back to the county line, keeping it close for support when the first walker reached her. She didn't hesitate for a moment before bringing down on its skull, slicing through the fracturing bone. The walker blood sprayed when she yanked the blade out before turning to the next one.

The rest of her actions blurred together.

A kick to the chest to hold one off while she slashed the other.

Hacking the arm off of one before splitting open the other.

The sound of bodies dropping against the pavement mixed with the splintering and splashing. The groaning and moans of the corpses fluctuated as they came closer before they were silenced by her assault.

Maggie didn't think about the decaying smell that filled the air, the one that would cause her stomach to lurch and empty if she had anything in it. She didn't really look and consider the faces of the dead, weathered and rotting away. She didn't think about the blood splattered on her clothing.

For once, it was just about the ache in her muscles and the burn of exertion. It was about the fact she could take down another walker, she was strong enough. She could push through this exhaustion and transcend being weak and useless.

The pavement was littered with walker corpses when Maggie looked up around her. There were only a few coming from the woods. She didn't know how much time had passed or how long she was out there.

Amongst the trees, she caught the sight of a man in a black jacket. It was hard to make out his features, but Maggie stopped immediately. The machete dropped down to her side.

"Kol?" Maggie questioned aloud, wondering if he was watching her again. The man took a few steps and disappeared from her view amongst the trees.

"Kol!" Maggie called out. Instead of remaining by the county line, she determinedly marched straight in his direction. She hadn't said anything last time, but she wasn't going to pass it up this time. Not when he had been there the night Glenn died and she hadn't seen him since then.

Her heart started to beat more frantically with each step and he didn't answer her. Stepping off the road, Maggie's boots crunched against the leaves and roots while she went for the spot she last saw him.

She stepped around the tree, but didn't see him. She squinted, looking through the thick foliage of the trees. Maggie heard a groan come from behind one of the other trees. She turned just in time to see the walker coming towards her.

"Shit," Maggie exclaimed and quickly slashed the machete out at it. The blade ran through the orbital of the walker, causing the corpse to drop its arms immediately but the blade was stubbornly lodged in its head.

She didn't see the second walker step out from the trees until the gnarled hand reached out to her forearm and the teeth clamped down on her. Maggie let out a cry, nearly dropping the machete then and there when she felt the walker tear away the skin.

Desperate, Maggie reached for the hunting knife at her belt. She pulled it out before stabbing it into the skull of the second walker. Both of the walkers dropped to the ground and Maggie didn't waste another moment before sprinting back to the county line.

It wasn't until she crossed the county line that her mind caught up with what happened. The pain was searing and one glance down at the bite mark was enough for her to know she only had so much time to get back to town for help.

* * *

Kol followed after Elijah, trying to appear more bored to hide how uncomfortable and impatient he was feeling. He wore the thick black jacket over his shirt with his shoulders stiff. He didn't let himself wince with each wrong movement and the way the wound on his chest wasn't healing. Instead, he focused more on getting to those blood bags, but he ended up getting roped into going to the hospital with Elijah instead.

Elijah moved down the hallway with Kol tailing him, already a little annoyed with his younger sibling whining about getting some blood bags. "We'll get the bags after I see Dr. Fell," Elijah reiterated, having promised to give the donation she requested.

When Elijah stopped to face his brother, he was going to say more until he inhaled and his expression froze.

Kol tensed, seeing him sniffing the air.

"Are you –"

"No," Kol cut off Elijah's question before he could finish. Instead of focusing on himself, he threw on a smirk and changed the subject, "Tell me, 'Lijah, have you showed her Niklaus' little painting yet?"

Elijah's concern disappeared immediately to a thin set frown, glaring at his brother but not answering.

"The resemblance is astounding, I'm sure she won't think anything of it," Kol continued to taunt him.

Before Elijah could get another word in, the doctor in question came around the corner and into the hallway. "Elijah!" Dr. Fell greeted politely and then apprehensively looked to Kol. The two brothers stopped before the doctor, Kol remaining a few steps behind. "Kol," Her tone dropped a little for him.

"Hello, darling," Kol smirked at her, sensing the edge from Elijah, despite how well he hid it.

"Thank you for coming on such short notice," Meredith chose to address Elijah. "We ran out of samples last night and I have a new terminal patient that I'm hoping to treat soon."

Kol briefly wondered who the patient was, but he ignored that nagging feeling because the pain was just as vicious as ever. The smirk remained on his lips though.

"It's of no inconvenience, doctor," Elijah dismissed easily enough.

"In fact," Kol piped up, noticing the way Elijah eased up for the doctor immediately. "We were just talking about the wonderful Founding Families," Kol lied.

Elijah gave him a look that could kill while he kept talking and Meredith looked at Kol oddly.

"But I couldn't quite recall where it is the Fells' came from prior to Mystic Falls," Kol concluded with a pointed smirk at Meredith.

"Most of my family is from Italy and some lived in New York," Meredith explained shortly, not particularly wanting to get into details. She was still mistrustful of most vampires, the Originals especially.

"Her family is from Italy. How do you fancy that, 'Lijah?" Kol turned towards his brother, his smirk growing into a broad faux innocent grin.

Elijah wasn't amused in the slightest bit. His jaw was locked tightly and the hand in his pocket was a tight fist.

"Don't you have some blood bags to get, brother?" Elijah responded instead, the question being more of a warning.

"Gladly," Kol clipped back and stepped away from them, glad to be rid of the nuisance distraction. He gave Meredith one more smirk before turning his back to head towards the blood bank.

He vaguely heard Meredith ask Elijah what that was about.

* * *

Kol turned down another corridor when he noticed a nurse rushing past in the direction of the emergency room. He raised an eyebrow at the hurried actions and before he could ask, he heard the scratching of the radio at her hip, explaining what the rush was.

"ER to Dr. Fell, ER to Dr. Fell," Another female voice said over the radio.

"This is Dr. Fell, go ahead," The response came a moment later.

The only reason Kol could hear the rest of the conversation was thanks to his vampire hearing as the nurse came going.

"We've got a female, mid-20's, Jane Doe with a walker bite, critical condition." The attendant explained over the radio.

Kol stopped, his curiosity starting to peek. A walker bite? How did someone get bit here?

"10-4, get her stabilized and I'll be down with some samples," Dr. Fell ordered over the radio.

The nurse Kol saw disappeared around the corner. He was left glancing down the hallway in either direction. The monster within him itched to go to the blood bank and get some blood bags. This wound was certainly concerning, but he hadn't dropped yet and a part of him was drawn towards the emergency wing. He made it this far, maybe he could check this out first.

Making up his mind, Kol wandered down the hallway after the nurse. He came into the emergency room wing and glanced around. Admittedly, it was a little eerie being in a hospital that was unstaffed and only functioned on half power, leaving entire sections in darkness.

There was a flurry of activity as two other nurses were heading into one of the rooms. The gurney had only been wheeled in moments earlier.

"What's going on?" Kol asked, managing to catch one of the nurses as he followed after them.

She gave him a hesitant look before shrugging her shoulders. "We're not sure. She just came in, one of the supply runs found her on the side of the road with a walker bite," She said shortly before darting into the patient room.

Kol stepped into the doorway of the room, to get a look at the patient. Three other people were in the room. Two nurses and one of the emergency attendants from the ambulance they used to get her. Kol frowned and had to lean this way and that to try to catch a glimpse of her around all the hospital staff.

"Sir, I need you to give us some room," One of them said to Kol, but he wasn't paying them any attention.

"Does anyone recognize her?" One of the nurses asked. The other shook her head, the second shift emergency room staff hadn't seen this one before.

"Let's get an IV for her and some fluids," The lead nurse ordered while they started to hook up a heart rate monitor. The other nurse nodded immediately and set to follow her orders. The lead nurse moved to inspect the wound on female's arm.

For the movies and reading that Kol had done to catch up on the century he missed, this was the first time he really saw some modern practices in action. It was captivating, despite the searing pain in his chest that caused him to grasp the doorframe for support.

The beeping of the heart rate monitor started to fill the room once it came to life. The nurse read off some numbers to the lead nurse.

The emergency attendant moved to help the assistant nurse with the IV and that's when Kol got a look at the patient. His expression fell immediately.

Maggie was passed out on the bed. Her clothing was stained and soaked with blood that had a foul, spoiled scent to it. Her face was pale and clammy, splattered with blood and sweat. More alarmingly was the bite mark that the lead nurse was currently inspecting. Her blood was smeared all down her arm onto her shirt and her hands.

Kol tried to ignore the cold feeling of shock that set over him, but he just wondered how this had happened and what happened to her.

"The infection has already started to spread," The lead nurse declared, "We're going to need some intravenous penicillin to slow it down until Dr. Fell gets here with those samples."

"IV set," The assistant nurse announced after finding a vein on Maggie's left arm. The doppelganger laid limply on the bed while they fussed over her. The nurse got with the intention to get the medicine as ordered.

"No!" Kol suddenly spoke up, recovering from his initial surprise. "She's allergic to penicillin," He blurted out, remembering reading her medical chart before.

The two nurses stopped immediately, looking up at Kol in the doorway. "You know who this is?" The lead nurse asked him, who was a heavy set Hispanic woman.

Kol just swallowed thickly and nodded his head, unable to take his eyes off of Maggie. She looked so lifeless and helpless.

"Is she allergic to anything else?" The nurse asked him immediately.

He just shook his head, wanting to step into the room, but his feet weren't moving.

"Intravenous cephalosporin," The lead nurse ordered instead to the other before looking back to Kol. "She's going to need a blood transfusion. Do you know her blood type?"

"AB positive," Kol answered without blinking while the other nurse got the antibiotics.

He ran a hand of frustration through his hair. The last time he had spoken to her, she had criticized her having a death wish and not getting treated. _Now this_.

One of the monitors started to pick up and a beeping alarm started to sound. Kol glanced up to the screen to see numbers flashing that he wasn't entirely sure of what they meant.

"BP and heart rate is dropping," The lead nurse stated and then looked to the emergency attendant, "Get the crash cart prepped on standby for SCA."

The man nodded in the hospital uniform nodded and practically darted out of the room. Kol noticed the movements of the nurses became more frantic as they cleared a way for the cart to be wheeled into the room next to the bed.

"What's happening?" Kol asked no one in particular, trying to fight the infectious frantic feeling in the air.

"She's going into cardiac arrest," The lead nurse answered him vaguely while the assistant nurse pulled out of a pair of scissors, to cut away the blood stained shirt.

"Is she going to make it?" Kol wondered, his tone becoming shorter and tighter while he watched the emergency attendant fire up the batteries on the crash cart and prep the machine.

"Sir, we're going to do everything we can, but you need to give us some room," The assistant nurse declared more firmly, wanting to get the man out of the room.

Kol wasn't the least bit comforted by those words. He only took one halfhearted step back. The heart monitor continued to sound loudly while the nurses murmured to each other, Kol could barely see Maggie through them.

He clenched his jaw as he watched them. They had it under control, like the nurse said, and he knew that Dr. Fell would be on her way soon with his brother's blood. And even if she wasn't, by God this doppelganger had a death wish and she was foolish. What was she doing out by the county line? She really had no self-preservation. If she wanted to die so badly, maybe he should just let her. She was just another mortal at the end of the day.

Kol glanced down the hallway towards the direction of the blood bank. He could just go get his blood bags and deal with his own problems. He could just go on his way and be done with it. Let his brother save the day or bury the doppelganger.

But they were still up by Dr. Fell's office, were they even fully aware of just how critical the situation was?

Kol shook his head. It didn't matter, he stubbornly told himself.

* * *

He carried the Styrofoam cooler in both hands while he marched out to the parking lot briskly. Kol didn't bother glancing back over his shoulder while he had the keys in one hand. With a click of a button, the black SUV gave a beep before releasing the rear trunk. It eased open and Kol set the cooler down in the trunk.

He thought about climbing in the car and taking off without Elijah. He was so thirst, the burning in his throat was the worst he could remember in a long time. Despite himself, he looked back towards the hospital. He searched among the first floor windows to what he guessed was the emergency room wing.

He briefly wondered if he had made the right decision after all.

Kol shook his head to get rid of the thought and popped the lid off the cooler. He normally didn't behave like a blood junkie or an uncontrollable newborn, but he figured this called for a little parking lot tailgating instead of waiting to get back to the mansion.

The maroon bags welcomed his vision and Kol smirked down at them. He reached in and grabbed the first one off the top, inspecting the recent date on the bag. It was cold, but it would have to do for now.

He was about to pop the cap off when he let out a gasp.

Something was moving along his chest, it felt like the skin was stretching, leaving an irritatingly itchy sensation. Kol had to keep himself from dropping the bag while his other hand unzipped his jacket and tugged at his collar.

He looked down inside his shirt and frowned deeply. The open veins at the edges started to close up before they healed over completely, the angry red fading away. In morbid fascination, Kol watched each one of them disappear until it just left the mild persistent rash behind.

When it finally stopped, Kol was left dumbfounded. He glanced between the now nonexistent wound and the blood bag still in his hand. The untouched sealed cap stared back at him.

With a sigh, Kol dropped the bag back into the cooler and snapped the lid on. He shut the trunk door heavily.

* * *

Maggie came around to a blinding light darting back and forth in her vision. It was painfully blinding. Her senses struggled with the barge of smells, the dryness in her throat, the sounds of beeps and voices around her.

"Margaret, can you hear me? Margaret?" One of the voices asked her.

A few blinks and Maggie realized it was a flashlight being waved over her eyes. Moreover, she realized there was also a mask over her mouth, which made her breathing sound louder to herself.

Maggie managed the barest of nods as she regained her bearings. The nurse leaning over her eased back. "You're in the hospital, you're going to be okay," The nurse declared to her with a relieved smile of her own, finally getting a lucid response out of the woman.

Maggie struggled to look around her. Her body felt weak and heavy, she didn't even want to lift a finger. She looked down at herself, too tired to even ask how she got here or even correct the nurse about her name. Her mouth and throat was excoriatingly dry.

She was distracted by the second nurse that was fussing over her right arm. The nurse had a syringe in hand, which was red with what looked like blood. Maggie hissed slightly when the needle pierced her skin next to the remains of the walker bite, but then watched as the wound started to close up slowly. The nurse made several more injections around the wound until it was closed completely.

Maggie noticed she had several things hooked up to her. She had a heart monitor on her finger, an IV in her other arm, and an oxygen mask. There was a blanket covered over her.

"You're lucky, you know," The nurse said to Maggie, drawing her eyes back to her. The older woman had a sympathetic and relieved smile still.

"Someone up above must have been looking out for you," She gave a nod towards the blood bag hooked up next to the bed when she saw the confused look from Maggie.

Maggie followed her gaze to the dark bag, which had hastily written words in black marker on it. She had to squint a bit to make them out. Immediately she noticed the first line that next to blood type said vampire and followed by that was the current date.

It was the only way she could be alive right now, she realized.

The rest of it Maggie stared at for a long time. Each moment the blood dripped into her veins, she felt a little stronger. She knew her arm was healing, the redness fading away and the tear from the walker's teeth having disappeared. And she would be stronger as she recovered with that vampire blood in her veins.

Maggie thought about the nurses' words and tears started to form in her eyes. She was going to be okay. She didn't believe that before. She had fallen to her lowest point alone. She had accepted that she was alone in this ordeal, with no way back and no promise of anything. But as she stared at those three words written on the blood bag, for the first time, she genuinely believed that she would be okay.

For the first time, she had hope.

_Donor: Kol Mikaelson_

* * *

_Author's Note: Oooh the Kolie!_

_So this chapter was an interesting challenge for me, I decided to take two scenes that would chronologically be at the end of the chapter and show them first followed by the build up to it. Hopefully I did a good enough job that no one was too confused by it. _

_I'm sorry for the delay on this chapter, classes and work have been crazy busy, but I guess I did warn you guys my posting can be delayed. I hope this was worth the wait! _

_So let me hear your thoughts on the Malijah this chapter and the Kolie! Even though Maggie and Kol didn't directly interact this chapter, but think this chapter is a pretty big deal for Kolie. The next chapter is going to get more intense for Kolie and Malijah too. Founder's Celebration!_

_I love the reviews, please keep them coming, I frequently read and reread them for motivation! Thank you for the loving words, everyone!_

_Review responses –_

_Nynaeve55: Don't worry about the lateness, it took me several weeks to even get this chapter up! Work has been very busy and I had three classes going at the same time. I'm down to two classes now and they both finish on the 2__nd__, so I'm really looking forward to that. I'm glad I was able to get such an emotional response over Glenn's death from someone who isn't familiar with TWD, that's actually a huge personal accomplishment for me! _

_And I think your theory about the mating bond is starting to become very interesting. :P I think anyone who's been wondering about the mating bond will be practically jumping up and down in their seat after this chapter. I really look forward to your analysis of where you think the bond might be coming into play this chapter. _

_Esther is an interesting and tough character to write because we didn't see much of her. But I'm going to play on some of her other personality traits or flaws in this story, too. So that was not the last of her that we'll see. Each chapter I'm trying to introduce characters that we haven't seen before, like this chapter it was Seamus. I'm excited for the one next chapter. _

_Anyway, I feel like I should say more, but my brain is mush after writing this chapter. xD Thank you for the awesome reviews, they really make my day and I can't wait to read your response to this chapter._

_M: Maggie will definitely be seeing other ghosts! So I wouldn't discount any deceased TVD character from appearing in this story. _

_I'm curious to hear what you think of Maggie's downward spiral this chapter! She's got one heck of a case of survivor's guilt on top of her doppelganger and time travel problems._

_L: Thank you so much! The good thing about characters like Lucy and Meredith, I can really take my own direction with them since we've seen so little of them on the show. Kol's behavior certainly seems interesting, doesn't it? ;) I hope you haven't died of suspense waiting too long for this chapter, haha! I think it'll answer a lot of your questions and open up some news at the same time. _

_Kellie: Thank you so much! And yeah, the Malijah pairing is not Kolie, of course. But when I say pairing, I don't mean like a full on relationship, they may or may not get together at all, so maybe ship would be a better term? Anyway, I'm sure it'll make sense as it plays out._

_Guest: Thank you so much! And yeah, this is one of those stories that makes ya want to reach through the screen and shake Kol so he'll remember something. It's an interesting point you bring up about the rash, but I can't comment either way on it, sorry. ;)_

_Cricket V: Thank you so much! That's quite an honor to get a reaction like that over a character you haven't seen before on TV. I think this chapter answers your question about Kol's chest… or just creates more haha._

_As always, thank you for the reviews everyone and please keep them coming!_


	6. Chapter 6

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_Chapter Song: _

_Sharon Von Etten – Serpents_

_Scene: Maggie with Daryl through to the Grill deal_

_Adele – Someone Like You_

_Scenes: Maggie and Damon_

_Trent Dabbs – This Time Tomorrow_

_Scenes: Malijah Dance_

_Jillette Johnson – True North (Water in a whale)_

_Scene: Kol taking Maggie home and their confessions_

_Chapter Six_

Maggie thought about the nurses' words and tears started to form in her eyes. She was going to be okay. She didn't believe that before. She had fallen to her lowest point alone. She had accepted that she was alone in this ordeal, with no way back and no promise of anything. But as she stared at those three words written on the blood bag, for the first time, she genuinely believed that she would be okay.

For the first time, she had hope.

_Donor: Kol Mikaelson_

* * *

"Why do you keep calling me Margaret?" Maggie finally had to ask the nurse. Maggie was already feeling much better. It was a relief to see the wound on her arm gone. There just was something deeply unnerving about seeing your own flesh and blood dangling like that. But now, it was okay, her arm was smooth and untouched as before. All left behind were a few blood and iodine stains.

"Isn't that your name?" The nurse filling out some medical records stopped, looking at her in surprise. Through the course of everything, Maggie learned the heavy set Hispanic woman's name was Marissa.

"It is, but everyone calls me Maggie," She replied simply.

Marissa pointed with her pen towards the blood bag by Maggie's bed. It was mostly empty by this point. "That's what he called you," She shrugged her shoulders.

Maggie followed her gaze. "So he was really here then?" She had to ask with a small smile on her face. It was still laced with the hint of tears in her eyes and the exhaustion in her expression. But it was hope.

Marissa nodded and went on to explain what happened.

Maggie wouldn't have been alive without him she learned. Even if they had the vampire blood samples from Elijah on hand, there was a good chance she wouldn't have been given them. No one immediately recognized her before she was starting to crash and they wouldn't risk turning a stranger. They didn't risk using samples on people that were too far gone.

It wasn't long before Maggie's family arrived, late into the night hours. Beth was the first one to rush through the doors, followed by Carl and the rest of the Atlanta group. Hershel was walking on his own with crutches.

Seeing her family and everything that she had foolishly risked losing brought on a new wave of tears.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry," Maggie sobbed into the hair of her sister while she clutched onto her younger sibling and her father was at their elbows.

She apologized for many things that night as they stayed with her without actually saying it. She apologized for taking off and being so reckless at the county line, chasing after the illusion of something that wasn't there. She apologized for mentally checking out when the group needed to stay together the most. She apologized for the opportunity she was squandering.

Maggie had to wait a day before she released from the hospital, to let all the vampire blood pass through her system. Honestly, it was fine with her though. Because the stark reminder came to her early in the morning when the sun was rising in the room.

Hershel, Rick and Beth remained in the room while the rest went back to the Greene house. They were passed out in a various assortment of chairs that had been dragged into the room. Maggie was more grateful than ever of Rick's presence, because if there was anyone who knew what losing someone who was dear most felt right now it was him with Lori.

Maggie awoke with a start that morning, a hiss escaping from her teeth that she had to bit her tongue to keep from screaming.

The sunlight was filtering through the blinds of the room, falling across the floor and starting to creep onto the hospital bed. Her arm was on the railing when the rays hit it and her skin started to burn.

Maggie yanked her arm back, trying not to shriek while she watched the burnt agitated skin heal once it was in the shadows again.

That was an effect of the vampire blood on her that she had forgotten about. The rest of the day she feigned a migraine and had her sister pull the blinds shut.

At one point, Carol brought a change of clothes for her, especially since her old ones had been ruined by the walker blood and the emergency room personnel. Beth was standing in the bathroom with Maggie while she washed up when the blonde frowned at her shoulder.

"What's that?" Beth pointed to the red and slightly bubbling irritation on her skin.

Maggie frowned and looked over her shoulder after she finished tugging down her tank top. "Probably just some sunburn," Maggie half shrugged, she had been running outside for hours. She turned her body towards the mirror in the bathroom and then stopped.

"It sure doesn't look like it," Beth frowned, voicing the same thought that Maggie had. Before she could help herself, Maggie reached over and scratched at some of it.

"Maybe it's from the detergent in the sheets?" Beth suggested.

"Maybe," Maggie murmured in agreement, but she wasn't entirely convinced.

Wherever the rash had come from, it was gone by the time she was discharged.

She didn't see Kol again at the hospital. Even though she told him to leave the last she was there, he was the person she wanted to see the most this time.

* * *

"I didn't mean it," Maggie declared aloud to herself and whoever may have been listening. Several days passed since the incident at the county line. She wasn't completely okay, but she was getting better. She still had trouble trying to open up to everyone in the group. They made it clear they were there for her though. No one would be left behind.

But some days, it just wasn't enough and this was one of them. Maggie sat on top of one of the tombstones of someone she never met and never really cared about with one leg curled under her and the other dangling off the edge. She was more engrossed in the fresh one with the recently laid patch of grass in front of it. The black stone gleamed brightly in the sunlight and she didn't need to get close to read Glenn's name.

"What I said to you outside the Grill that day with Bonnie," Maggie explained, while there was no one around her, she held onto the hope that Glenn was listening somewhere. She thought remorsefully back to how she had hissed at him with such contempt that he would never touch her again.

"I was just so scared and angry at everything that was going on," Maggie shook her head, thinking her problems then seemed like nothing compared to what she was dealing with now. "It felt like everything was out of control, I couldn't even handle my own transition."

As she spoke, a sad voice in the back of her head pointed out how it was easier for her to talk to Glenn now that he was dead.

She didn't have to see his judgmental glares or hear the accusation in his tone. The worst was she didn't feel his desperation to understand when she only pushed him away.

He was gone and only now she was able to say the things she should have said all along.

"I'm going to die," Maggie voiced one of the conclusions that had been staring her in the face in the last couple of days. The words didn't pass her lips as shaky and uncertain as they had in the past. There was a hollowed level of acceptance she hadn't felt since the night at the waterfall.

"I know that now," Maggie's fingers fidgeted with her shoelaces while she murmured, "I'm a doppelganger, they were meant to die." Whether it was in a sacrifice, at the hands of a vampire, or the slow torture of cancer, she had one fate left in the end.

"But I need to find a way to make it worth it," Maggie decided fiercely, shaking her head in disbelief while she gazed around at the cemetery.

"I can't let all this be for nothing," Maggie couldn't let Glenn's death be in vain, Carol's pain or the suffering their group has endured be for nothing.

She looked back to his tombstone and promised him before the first sniffle passed through her, "I owe you that much."

When she was leaving the cemetery, she caught a glimpse of a blonde witch watching her between the tombstones.

* * *

When Maggie got back to the Greene house, she found a new addition sitting in the driveway. The hood was propped open while Daryl, Carol, and Rick were gathered around the pickup truck. It was a faded blue color and had several rust spots. It wasn't by any means new, but at first glance seemed to be pretty sound.

"Where did you find this?" Maggie questioned while she came to stand next to Carol. Rick and Daryl were inspecting the engine, more so Daryl with getting his hands greasy.

"A few streets away in a storage shed," Carol explained, offering her a small smile. At least it didn't look like Maggie had been crying again. The pickup truck clearly wasn't one of the vehicles issued by the Council.

"It looks pretty good, just needs a new battery," Daryl grunted out. Admittedly after the RV, one of the first things he checked was the fan belt.

Rick let out a sigh while rubbing his chin, while that wasn't a bad diagnosis, he knew it posed a problem for where they would get one.

"How did you get it here?" Maggie scrunched her brow, knowing it couldn't possibly have started then.

"We pushed it," Carol said.

Daryl stopped what he was doing and gave Carol a look.

"Okay, Daryl pushed and I steered," Carol amended.

Daryl snorted and shook his head, dipping back under the hood. Maggie gave a small grin at the two.

"There's an Autozone in Richmond. I know the supply runs raid a lot of batteries from there," Maggie offered after she thought about the dilemma a moment.

Rick quirked an eyebrow at her, partly impressed and curious. He was still left wondering how quickly she picked up these little facts. Every member of the group was doing their bit to find out more and more about Mystic Falls.

"I ain't pushing your ass to Richmond," Daryl warned Carol quickly, earning a chuckle from several of the adults.

"The reason I say that is the construction projects use pickups like this one," Maggie glanced at the make and model just to make sure her memory was serving her correctly. "I also know where they park them at night," She declared conspiratorially while looking at the others.

Rick and Daryl perked up immediately at that thought, starting to see where she was going with this.

"We go there at night, we can swap out the batteries and they won't know any better. Let them go to Richmond," Maggie suggested the least suspicious idea she could think of.

Rick and Daryl exchanged a look, musing it over and Rick gave a nod.

"You wanna go tonight?" Daryl asked, looking to Maggie.

Maggie shrugged, figuring why not. They spent a few more minutes talking exactly where the construction vehicles were parked. Ultimately, they decided that Daryl and Maggie would go, since Daryl was the quietest of them and Maggie knew where to go. The fewer people that went, the less chances of getting caught.

They were in the midst of the talking when Daryl let out a low whistle and held his hand in the air, signaling silence. The adults stopped and listened for a brief moment before they picked up the sound of an engine and tires rolling down the street.

"Shit, the Council," Daryl swore and slammed the hood of the pickup down quickly. They had hoped to get the truck in the back and under a tarp, out of sight before anyone from the Council saw.

Maggie frowned while the vehicle came into sight.

"It's not the Council," Maggie announced as the gleaming black SUV came to a halt in front of the house. The other three adults stopped in their shuffling, clearly having been undecided about trying to cover their tracks at this point.

There were only a small handful of people that would climb out of that SUV, Maggie realized. The first one that came to mind she had been truthfully looking over her shoulder for since the night Glenn died. She didn't know where he went and she was just waiting for the day he would come to kill her.

Luckily for her, it wasn't Klaus.

"I got this," Maggie told the others. She didn't even wait for a response before she approached the vehicle.

Rick exchanged a look with Daryl at Maggie's forwardness, but didn't object. Honestly, it was the most life out of her they had seen in days and neither one of them wanted to deal with the vampire.

Maggie pulled the baggy cardigan around her frame while she watched Elijah step around the front of the SUV, looking immaculate as always in one of his suits. His gaze flickered briefly from the murmuring of the humans gathered around the pickup truck before settling on the doppelganger. Admittedly, she looked in much better health than the last time he saw her.

"Elijah! What are you doing here?" Maggie wasn't sure if it was a relief or not to see him, but she felt the nervousness immediately.

Elijah adjusted the cuffs of his sleeves lightly while he stepped around the front of the vehicle. "Hello Ms. Greene," He greeted her politely before casting a glance over her shoulder at the group she just marched away from. "I wanted to see how you were recovering," He explained, undeterred by her abruptness.

Maggie cocked her head, slightly taken back. When was Elijah there? She wondered. She didn't remember seeing him.

"I'll admit I had feared the worst when I saw Kol coming from your room at the hospital," Elijah went on to say with a slight grave look in his eyes.

"Oh, no…" Maggie disagreed quietly, keeping her arms wrapped around herself. "He saved me actually, from what I heard," She obviously didn't actually know or see him.

"Indeed," Elijah murmured, but his tone didn't sound like he was entirely convinced or still had trouble believing it himself.

Maggie bit her lip anxiously at the tense silence.

"Listen, I would invite you inside…" Her voice trailed and she only half turned her shoulders back towards the house. The unspoken rule ran through her mind. Maggie noticed Elijah's gaze flicker once again over her shoulder. "They're not even being discreet about it, are they?" Maggie cringed slightly as she asked.

Elijah looked back at the pickup truck, which Daryl and Rick were still leaning against. Carol had her arms folded her over chest, leaning one hip against the grill. None of them were doing anything to hide the fact they were staring at the two.

"Not in the slightest," Elijah agreed quickly with a hint of amusement.

Maggie didn't even bother turning around. She could just imagine the deep frown on Carol's face, the stern expression from Rick, and Daryl quietly biting his knuckle with an impassive gaze.

"Don't fret. I've endured much more scrutiny before, I assure you," Elijah spoke to ease her worry. "I was not intending to take much of your time."

Maggie nodded, humbled by his politeness. "It's okay," She gave to let him proceed, starting to relax. The cold exterior she had first met with him apparently wasn't going to show and instead she was seeing the more personable side she saw at the manor.

"Has Esther tried contacting you again?" Elijah asked seriously, taking a half step closer to Maggie to make sure the conversation reminded between the two of them.

Maggie hesitated to respond. Had she seen Esther? Absolutely, several times. But she hadn't actually said anything to her since the cemetery. She kept catching glimpses of the witch and she felt her stare, at times Maggie thought that was even more unnerving than anything she could say.

"No, she hasn't said anything else to me," Maggie replied, wondering if that really counted as lying.

Elijah pressed his lips together in a thin line. Maggie felt those dark eyes studying her closely and she shifted anxiously on her feet.

"Do be careful," Elijah cautioned her. "Esther has possessed Rebekah for a time before, if she was to gain a hold in this world… I'm honestly not sure what she would be capable of."

Maggie's eyes widened from alarm. While she had an idea of what happened before, it was a sobering reminder to hear it so bluntly.

"Yeah," Maggie cleared her throat, dropping her gaze to the ground a moment. "I was thinking maybe Jeremy would be able to help me." She just had to figure out when and how, admittedly she had a lot of things going on lately.

"Jeremy Gilbert?" Elijah frowned with the question in his eyes.

"He's a medium too," Maggie nodded, still feeling odd to count herself among them. "I'll ask him once I figured out a way to broach the whole 'I can see dead people too' topic." Maggie tried to manage a smile.

"Ah, I understand," Elijah appreciated the fact she was still trying to keep her chin up in all of this.

"In the meantime," Elijah reached into his pocket while he spoke, drawing Maggie's curiosity. "I wanted to give you this, should you ever need help don't hesitate…" He pulled the object out and held it out for Maggie.

She frowned slightly, reaching for it instinctively. The cool plastic touched her skin before she realized it was a cell phone. It wasn't anything spectacular. It was just a simple prepaid flip phone by the looks of it.

"Um, thanks, but…" Maggie stuttered slightly, wondering what good the disconnected electronic would do in this world.

"It's spelled," Elijah smirked at her dubious expression. "You don't even need to recharge it."

"Oh," Maggie mumbled sheepishly, figuring she probably should have known better after seeing Lucy.

She cradled the phone in her hands and flipped it open. The screen lit up immediately, a rather uninspiring white screen, but it said 'Call Elijah?' across it with a yes or no option. Maggie raised an eyebrow at that.

"And you already put your number in it. A bit bold, don't you think?" She couldn't help but tease him a bit.

"It's the only number that it calls," Elijah pointed out, humoring her with a small grin.

"Oh," Maggie felt the heat rise to her cheeks, looking back down at the phone. Studying it for a moment, she finally closed it in her hands. It was relieving to know he was reaching out to her with a life line, if she needed it.

"Thank you, Elijah," She gave gratefully and sincerely.

"Of course," Elijah replied and he looked like he wanted to say something more, but he paused to look over her shoulder again. Maggie was willing to bet he could hear whatever they were whispering about.

"I fear I may be overstaying my welcome here," He announced to her, but then added on more hopefully, "But perhaps I will see you at the Founder's Celebration?"

Maggie nodded, "I'll be there."

Maggie thought he would step away and leave her at that. But instead, he reached forward to one of her hands grasping the phone in front of her body. He delicately plucked one from it and brought her hand up in front of him. She squinted slightly at the action until she realized where he was going with it.

Her throat formed a lump and her cheeks flushed brightly when his lips grazed across the back of her knuckles without breaking eye contact.

"Take care, Ms. Greene," Elijah bided her before releasing her hand and stepping back towards the SUV.

Maggie was just left staring after him while her hand fell back to her side. It felt like a searing brand where he had kissed her. One that didn't belong on her and one that was hard to be upset about because he was being sincere.

She watched the SUV pull away down the street, knowing there were still several sets of eyes on her. She tried to compose herself. Maggie shoved the cell phone away into her pocket, keeping it out of sight from the others before letting out a deep exhale and going to face them.

* * *

"Coast is clear," Daryl grunted, leaning around the tree. The two waited for the patrol vehicle to drive by. Maggie wasn't as nervous and suspicious as Daryl through this, but she went along with it. The headlights disappeared around the bend without any hesitation.

Maggie glanced across the road to the brick building and more specifically the fencing that wrapped around the property. In the glow of the street light, she made out the faded sign of the Mystic Falls school district transportation office. What once held school buses behind the barbed wire fences now held most of the Council vehicles at night.

Maggie hoisted the sling bag over her shoulder and followed after Daryl when he choose the moment to cross the street. Their boots echoed off the pavement as they moved. Maggie grunted slightly from the weight of the bag on her shoulder. A car battery wasn't light, but Daryl refused to leave his crossbow behind and had a pair of bolt cutters with him as well.

Daryl stopped by the street side gate in the fencing. He continued to glance over his shoulder either direction of the street, but Maggie didn't mind it much. She knew once the patrol went by they wouldn't be back for an hour. This was Mystic Falls, not Fort Knox. The vehicles were locked up for the night, the general assumption was that people wouldn't mess with them.

Which was why there was no guard and just a simple combination lock on the gate.

Daryl didn't hesitate a moment to shoulder the crossbow across in his back in favor of the bolt cutters.

"Hey," Maggie hissed at him, stopping him before he could clip the steel. "What happened to inconspicuous?" Cutting the lock wasn't exactly a good way to avoid raising suspicion.

"What?" Daryl grumbled and glanced up towards the top of the fence, "You wanna climb?" There was only two ways to get inside as far as he was concerned, and the latter wasn't too appealing with the barbed wire.

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Step aside," She demanded and elbowed Daryl out of the way. The redneck shook his head while Maggie took the lock in her hands.

"So you, what? Know the combination or something?" Daryl questioned incredulously while keeping his voice low. He still kept a hand on the bolt cutters, doubting that this would work.

"Actually I do," Maggie clipped out while she ticked the first number in.

"How?" Daryl frowned, watching Maggie spinning the numbers on the lock. It was one thing to know where the vehicles were, but to get inside was another.

"I'm a woman, Daryl," Maggie said matter of factly. "I just have to smile at boys and they'll tell me anything." She smirked, thinking especially high school boys.

Daryl just shook his head. "Yeah well, hurry up."

Maggie hesitated on the last digit. At least, it had been months for her when she last helped Jeremy and Matt with supply runs. She thought she knew the combination. Was the last number a six or a sixteen?

She bit her lip, staring down at the lock. She held the back of it in one hand while the other remained hovering over the numbers.

Damnit.

She could feel Daryl's stare, wondering what was taking her so long. The seconds ticked by painfully.

Before she could make up her mind, the dial spun out of the grasp of her fingers. It settled on the sixteen and the lock clicked. Maggie startled, completely losing her grip on the lock, but it already disengaged and fell to the ground with a clatter.

Daryl's head snapped back towards her direction, not seeing the way it moved on its own accord. He only saw the frozen and spooked expression on Maggie's face as she didn't tear her eyes away from the fallen lock.

"Let's go," Daryl barked out, not wanting to get caught snooping around the fence. He pushed past Maggie and forced open the gate.

What the hell? Maggie began to panic, wondering how that just happened. She most definitely did not finish the combination on her own.

She looked up past Daryl to catch the glimpse of someone standing by one of the vehicles in the lot. Her dark dress didn't stand out nearly as much as the wavy blonde locks did, almost radiant in the darkness. Those cold eyes bore into her with an expectant expression.

Esther.

Maggie swallowed thickly and forced herself to follow after Daryl, trying to ignore the ghost of the witch. The cold sense of dread filled her veins with each moment and Maggie tried to focus more on the line of vehicles.

They made their way quickly over to the pickup trucks. They had to scope several out before they found the right make and model. Maggie went to the driver's door to disengage the hood while Daryl pulled out the tools necessary to remove the current battery.

With the hood propped open, Maggie set the heavy duffle bag on the frame of the vehicle and did her best to ignore the feeling of being watched. She didn't even want to look up and find exactly where Esther was.

In reality, it only took a few minutes to remove the battery and swap it for their bad one. Daryl worked quickly without a word and knew what he was doing. But it felt like an eternity for Maggie, the darkness felt suffocating, like it could reach out and grab her at any point. It was made worse by the fact it wasn't just the shadows she had to be afraid of.

The heavy slam of the hood closing snapped her out of her revelry. Daryl held the strap of the bag, with the new battery, out for her to take. Maggie only numbly took the bag without really looking at him.

She was more alarmed by the third person standing next to them at the truck. Seeing her up close, Maggie realized she was still wearing the same dress from the funeral and not a hair was out of place. She calmly stared at Maggie and the silence became too oppressive, especially when Daryl moved away back towards the gate they entered.

"I'm not helping you murder your children," Maggie hissed fiercely in a low tone.

A low whistle carried through the parking lot.

"Maggie! Come on," Daryl called out to her. He shook his head. What was with her? Now wasn't the time to be staring off into space and holding him up. It was supposed to be quick, get in and get out. She was treating it like a picnic.

Maggie tore her eyes away from Esther, trying not to visibly startle and followed after Daryl.

The feeling of being watched didn't go away until she was back at the house that night and in her bedroom.

* * *

The encounter with Esther at the Council lot frequently weighed in the forefront of Maggie's mind. Several times she had picked up the cell phone throughout the week from Elijah and thought about calling him. But what would she say?

Eventually she came to the conclusion that was the beginning of what he meant by getting a hold in this world. And if it was true, what would he do to her? Was she weak for allowing Esther to manipulate real items around her? There was no guarantee that Elijah's solution would really be in her best interests. She knew the typical vampire response to troublesome mortals.

Maggie let out a sigh at that thought while she patiently sat in the chair and felt the hair straightener run through hers.

"You don't have to fuss, really Beth," Maggie finally spoke up, not particularly wanting to sit in the Grill any longer than they already were. "I'm not exactly trying to impress anyone." Maggie glanced down to her lap and the fabric of the yellow dress her hands rested on.

At least picking out her dress for the Founder's Celebration had been easy. She had already done it before.

It was weird getting ready in the Grill this time. She wasn't waiting for Damon to come pick her up. She had barely spoken to the vampire since her family arrived. As the week went by, she realized she thought of him less and less.

In the truth, the only real reason she agreed to going was the possibility that she would run into Kol. The first Celebration had certainly been memorable and she just hoped it would be this time for a positive reason.

"_Al-_most done," Beth hummed out, having learned to ignore Maggie's whining by this point.

Maggie rolled her eyes.

"I bet Jeremy is out there already looking for you," Maggie suggested, just trying to get rid of her.

She didn't need to turn around to see the shy smile and blush from Beth.

"Done!" Beth declared, clicking off the straightener before setting to down on the bar counter.

"Thanks, sis," Maggie murmured and rose up from her seat, eager to get her sister out of the Grill as soon as possible. Maggie tried not to noticeably stare at the far end of the bar. "I'll see you out there, okay?" She urged her.

"Fine, but you can't hide in here all night," Beth warned her playfully, trying to lighten up the obvious tension her older sibling.

"I won't," Maggie promised with a small smile.

She watched Beth pack up some of the thing she had borrowed from April Young. The grin on her face began to fade away while a thought troubled her. Just before Beth was about to leave through the side door, she stopped.

"Maggie," She started, her tone taking on a different meaning and earning a furrowed brow from the doppelganger. "I know, it's hard what you're going through and why you're doing it, but just be careful with him."

Maggie frowned in surprise. "Elizabeth Ann," She rarely used her full name, but where had this come from? "What are you talking about?"

"That guy," Beth bit her lip anxiously before plucking up the courage to say what was on her mind. It didn't seem like the others were doing a lot of talking lately. "I know, you're just trying to distract yourself," It went without saying from Glenn, "But just be careful, he's a vampire, not some college boy."

Maggie stared at her sister almost blankly. Wait, did she mean Elijah? Beth occasionally threw her for a loop when she revealed how observant or well she knew her, but this was more than she needed right now.

"It's not like that, Beth," Maggie shook her head, wondering what kind of assumption that was to make. "I promise," She reaffirmed.

Beth watched her thoughtfully, weighing her sincerity before finally nodding. "Okay," She gave, trusting her sister's word. "I'll see you out there," She murmured before turning her back.

She walked right by the man standing at the bar without even a glance or a sense of awareness.

Maggie inhaled deeply when she heard the door shut behind her sister. She gave the man half a glance before moving towards the front of the Grill. She shut off all the lights, except for the one over the bar. She didn't need anyone peering through the windows and seeing her talking to herself.

Without a glance to her companion, Maggie went behind the bar and rummaged out a bottle of whiskey and a tumbler. At least in the couple of shifts that she picked up throughout the week, she figured out where everything was again.

She set the glass heavily down on the counter before pouring herself some of the amber liquid. She didn't hesitate to knock half the drink back, letting it burn her throat and senses before clinking it against the wood again.

"I take it you're not here for the whiskey," She finally spoke aloud, acknowledging her guest, who hadn't made a move or a noise while he stared at her.

"It doesn't hold much taste for me anymore, no," He answered her calmly with a faint smirk.

With that and how Beth never reacted to him, Maggie had to try very hard the entire time they were getting ready to pretend he wasn't there. Freaking ghosts, she decided, were starting to get really creepy.

"What do you want then?" Maggie asked bluntly, finally turning to look at him. He had a slight scruff about his chin and dirty blonde to brown hair. He wore a black suit, almost like if he had dressed for the occasion. He was older man, but Maggie had trouble guessing his age.

He quirked an eyebrow at her, "You don't know who I am?"

Her eyes narrowed him before shaking her head. "I've met a lot of people, both dead and alive," She said in an unimpressed tone, "But your face doesn't particularly stand out."

He cocked his head slightly at her attitude. "I see the attitude of my sons has rubbed off on you," He commented shortly, not particularly amused by her response.

"Your sons?" Maggie questioned immediately, staring at him a little more closely. There were only a small handful of men she knew that she hadn't met their father before…

Looking into those brown eyes, that were almost black with darkness, it clicked in her mind then. Her expression fell slowly and painstakingly when as she looked in his facial features, imagining them younger and in a different light.

"Ah, there is it," He nodded with a smirk, his accent standing out in the room.

The dawning sense of recognition passed through Maggie's eyes, shortly followed by the realization. He wasn't just any ordinary ghost.

"Mikael," Maggie said his name in a whisper, partly hoping that she was wrong. Yes, he was dead. But now she was staring at the vampire hunter that had caused Klaus and Kol to scatter to different ends of the earth.

Her mind went into overdrive immediately. Dealing with Esther was enough on her mind, she hadn't even considered the possibility of running into Papa Original himself. Esther had cursed her children, but Mikael was the one that actually killed them.

Maggie turned her head to the whiskey glass. She took the moment to knock back the rest of the drink. She would need this to take the edge off, and hopefully show that she wasn't secretly terrified of him.

"Tell me, how does marriage counsel with your cheating ex-wife work on the Other Side?" Maggie jabbed at him, thinking the most messed up family dynamic belonged to his hands down.

The smirk on his lips slipped into a thin set frowned as he locked his jaw. "It's beyond your concern," He responded shortly.

"Yeah?" Maggie gave without looking up at him as she poured herself a refill. "Well, she's been following me around lately. I would say that's within my area of _concern_."

"Do you really find that so surprising?" Mikael countered with a hint of amusement in his voice that came out mocking. "We all want the same thing."

Maggie glared him at harshly. She shook her head. She would never consider herself along sides of Esther and Mikael. "You're wrong, I'm nothing like you or her," She denied.

"No?" Mikael almost taunted. "There's not the slightest bit of you that desires the same justice, resorting the balance… or revenge?" The word slipped from his tongue like a poison, full of meaning that she had only truly begun to appreciate since Glenn's death.

"No," Maggie lied flatly.

She turned with the intentions of walking straight out of that bar. She didn't have to listen to this. She could find Jeremy and learn out to block out these ghosts, she realized she couldn't delay that any longer.

But before she did, she found herself thinking back to everything she heard about Mikael. The image of Kol's face flashed in her mind and the genuine fear in his eyes. The fear of being hunted by him when Klaus daggered him and the fear of becoming just like him she saw in her apartment that night.

"You want to know what I really think?" Maggie asked, inhaling deeply to lift her shoulders and turning back to him.

She didn't wait for him to respond before continuing, "I think the greatest shame is that your sons spent their lives fearing you, instead of looking up to you." She remembered what Kol told her, how he had hunted them instead of helped them through the transition. His wife created the monsters, but he fostered them through fear.

She could tell her words hit a sore spot immediately and Maggie was glad that he was already dead. At least, she was hoping that he wouldn't be able to harm her.

"Niklaus is _not _my son," He forced each word out firmly, the disdain and disgust obvious in his eyes.

"I wasn't talking about him," Maggie corrected in a cold tone, hating Mikael for what he had reduced Kol to that night.

She moved to pick up her whiskey glass and put the bottle away, making it clear that she wasn't sticking around.

Mikael was silent while he processed that and she put the bottle away.

"I never truly wanted to kill Elijah, Kol or Rebekah. But I always knew they would lead me to Niklaus," He declared in a surprisingly low tone. "And, unlike Esther, I'm not foolish enough to believe that you ever would," He stated.

Maggie stared down at the remains of her second glass and nodded. He was at least right about her there, but she wasn't sure about him.

"Good to know," Maggie muttered dryly, still questioning how much she believed him. She took a sip of the whiskey and started to head towards the back of the house, intending to leave it with the other dirty dishes.

"You have an advantage," Mikael's voice rose and stopped her in her tracks. The glass hovered on her lips, not quite sure she heard him correctly. He stared at the back of her shoulders, he continued on meaningfully, "An opportunity, one that you didn't even have before. You and I are the only ones aware of it now."

Despite herself, Maggie's curiosity was intrigued. She turned back to him slowly. "What do you mean?" She asked, considering him seriously for the first time.

"We both want revenge against Niklaus," Mikael declared confidently, his for murdering Esther and Maggie for the murder of Glenn and Carol. "But you have a way to get it… or rather the one thing that can kill him," He added on meaningfully.

Maggie stared at him long and hard, unnerved by his presence but considering his words nonetheless.

"My mother's tree," She realized in a small whisper. The white oak tree. She hadn't even considered before the fact it could very well still be standing in this world. Her and Kol hadn't gone down and burned it. She hadn't showed the dream of her home to Damon, not even he knew of it.

This made her immediately suspicious of Mikael.

"Why are you coming to _me_ with this? Why not the Salvatore's or someone else?" Maggie questioned, not believing she could trust him. Surely if he went to Stefan or Damon with that information, it would be rat race to Georgia to carve their own stakes.

"Because the last time I trusted the Salvatore's to deliver me Niklaus, my own stake was used against me," He stated bluntly. "I had kept my word until the end and it was theirs that was broken."

Maggie approached the bar counter slowly, standing opposite from the ghost. A part of her knew she really shouldn't listen to a word he said, but how could she not at this point?

If there was thing consistent she heard about Mikael throughout the centuries, it was his desire to kill Niklaus. She didn't trust him, but she could trust that one simple fact. He wanted him dead just as much as she did, if not more.

"So you want me to go to Georgia, get a piece of the white oak and kill… _just_ Niklaus?" Maggie clarified slowly, searching his expression for an ulterior motive.

Mikael nodded confidently, watching the gears starting to turn in Maggie's mind.

She bit her lip, thinking about it. Finally, she just shook her head. "I can't do it," She stated.

Mikael's eyes narrowed on her, not thrilled to hear what the excuse would be this time.

"It's in Georgia," She stated, looking him in the eyes again. "How do I even know the tree still stands?" She questioned, it would be a very long way to go with walkers to fight off for nothing.

"I can assure you it's still there," He answered without blinking.

"And I'm only mortal," Maggie sighed in frustration. It was a lot different when she was a vampire. "It would be a suicide mission," The only reason she traveled to and from Georgia was with the assistance of the supernatural before.

"Come now, I know how resourceful you can be," Mikael coaxed on with a slight sneer. "And if need be, I may be able to provide some assistance along the way," He gave knowingly.

A part of her was in disbelief that she was really considering this. But at the same time, the more she considered it, she had to admit it had its advantages. She was the only living person who knew about the oak at the moment and with a ghost on the Other Side looking out for her, that did have another advantage to it.

"What about Esther?" Maggie asked pointedly. "I can't have her interfering or messing with my mind if I'm going to do this." She didn't want to show just how much the witch spooked her the other night, but it was a big concern.

She could tell that all her stipulations were beginning to annoy him, but his desire outweighed that. Mikael picked up especially at the change in her demeanor, sensing her as less of an adversary. He thought about her predicament before finally offering, "I could keep her at bay from the Other Side here."

He wanted to say more, but he recognized he was at a very delicate point in the conversation. Was she suggesting her cooperation? He wondered while he searched her eyes. He wanted to press further, but knew the slightest gust in the wrong direction would send this toppling in a moment.

"Let me get this straight…" Maggie wanted to make sure she understood everything that was out on the table. "You'll help keep Esther away and find a way for me to get Georgia safely… in exchange for me driving a stake through Niklaus?"

An almost sickly grin broke out slowly across Mikael's face. He stood up a little taller, seeing the understanding in Maggie.

He gave a slow nod before asking with a faint smirk, "Do we have an accord?"

It was then Maggie knew what it felt like to make a deal with the Devil. She couldn't shake his hand, so she just finished her drink in one final gulp without taking her eyes off of him.

* * *

Maggie locked up the Grill shortly after. The fresh air of the night hit her with a sobering wave. Her hands were shaking a bit from nerves. She already found herself wondering she made the best choice or not.

Letting the clock click into place, Maggie glanced towards the horizon and where the sounds of the celebration were coming from.

"You were right, Lori," Maggie murmured under her breath, wondering if she could hear her from wherever she was now. "It is so easy to do something wrong now…" Her rational mind wasn't fully on board with the idea and she knew it.

"But look where doing right thing got me last time," She added on bitterly. Doing the right thing just ended with her being killed by Niklaus. It was time for her to look out for herself this time and that meant taking him out. It's what Glenn would have wanted too.

With that, she tried to push it from her mind and join the Founder's Celebration.

She ran into Mayor Lockwood first, like last time she remembered. However, instead of questioning her about she was settling into their lifestyles like before, Carol Lockwood actually apologized for the confusion. Apparently Dr. Fell had straightened out the confusion over her being a vampire or human.

Maggie just remained polite and moved on from the conversation quickly. She moved through the crowd, her eyes searching the faces. She briefly spotted Jeremy and Beth at one point. The one she was looking for was not the one she first came across.

She spotted Damon Salvatore over by the beverage table. He picked up a glass and turned in his steps, about to take a sip when he spotted Maggie from a distance.

The glass fell away from his lips while his eyes passed over her. It was the same breathless expression he had given her the first time in the Grill.

A lump formed in Maggie's throat. Despite everything that had happened, it hit her hard right then and there, seeing him in that dark suit and as striking as she remembered. It was bittersweet. While mostly bitter because of all the trouble they had gone through and the hurt they caused each other, beneath it was still good times. There were still those moments and even after everything, she really did want the best for him.

But she wasn't it.

Damon began to approach her. Maggie tensed immediately, their last fight still fresh in her mind and knowing very little good could come next.

And maybe he saw her reaction or maybe he had a second thought, Maggie would never really know. But just as soon as he decided to approach her, Damon stopped as if something different occurred to him.

The distance remained very clearly between them as he regarded her. Then instead of saying anything, Damon just raised the glass in his hand in her direction and gave an appreciative nod.

Maggie's furrowed expression melted into a grateful grin when she realized what he was doing. She had to bite her lip to keep the moisture from threatening her eyes when he reluctantly turned away from her and disappeared into the crowd.

"Okay, I know I agreed not to pry," A voice interrupted Maggie's thoughts and she turned to see Lucy stepping up beside her. She wore an ivory sundress that glowed against her skin tone. "But I don't look even at the best of my enemies like that." Was something going on between those two before? Lucy wondered.

Maggie looked at the inquisitive witch she was slowly starting to consider a friend with a tight, forced grin. She did have to appreciate how patient she was being in all of this.

"I don't hate him," Maggie said calmly, keeping her voice low. The witch followed her gaze, where Damon disappeared to. "I never have," Maggie forced the lump down in her throat to declare, "But it's the best thing for him to believe that I do."

Lucy gave her a sympathetic look, clearly itching to ask more questions, but respecting the fact that she couldn't. It was a tricky position for her as a witch to be in, she couldn't imagine what it was like for Maggie.

"You know, some day when this is all over you're going to have to buy me a drink and tell me everything," Lucy demanded in a lighthearted tone.

Maggie snorted slightly before looking at Lucy, "I think I'll owe you a keg at this rate."

She remained with Lucy for several minutes, making small talk. The witch went on about some of the renovations going on at the old witch house. Maggie was grateful for the distraction, no matter how small it was.

It wasn't long before they approached by someone else.

"Ms. Greene, you look stunning this evening," Elijah greeted her politely, stepping up to the two women. His eyes remained mostly on Maggie while giving a polite smile to Lucy as well. "Ms. Bennett," He acknowledged.

Maggie choked on her response at first, her eyebrows rising. She hadn't been expecting such a forward remark from the Original.

"Thank you…" She finally settled on and shook her head a bit, "And it's Maggie, please." She corrected him again, fighting off the sense of déjà vu in the process.

"My apologies, _Maggie_," Elijah grinned a little broader, appearing more pleased to get the personal name from her.

"Perhaps I could make it up to you with a dance?" He suggested smoothly instead, holding a hand out for her to take.

Maggie had to keep herself from staring at him like a deer caught in headlights. That was certainly not what she expected to hear from him. She glanced briefly to Lucy, who just shrugged her shoulders. It was Elijah after all.

"Uh, sure," Maggie stuttered slightly before clearing her throat and placing her hand in his.

He led her out to the dance floor effortlessly. It was then Maggie really listened to the music that had begun playing. It was an acoustic slow dance. She swallowed thickly when he pulled her with ease out onto the dance floor. He kept his hand clasped around hers and his other went to her waist, pulling her into the natural steps.

Maggie let out a slight noise of surprise at how close he pulled her. Her head ended up next to his, looking over his shoulder. From her close proximity, she caught a whiff of the masculine cologne he wore and she could feel the rich fabric of his suit from her hand against his shoulder.

"And my apologies again for the intrusion," Elijah spoke, more of a whisper into her ear. "But there are many curious ears about."

Maggie blinked at what he was saying. She wasn't sure if she was relieved or not that he was saying he whisked her so abruptly onto the dance floor for business reasons rather than personal. She briefly caught a glance of Stefan and Elena talking on the edge of the dance floor, having not noticed her and Elijah yet.

"I understand," Maggie nodded slightly, finding her voice again. A part of her wanted to believe that he only asked her to dance to talk, but it left her wondering. She closed her eyes a moment and tried to clear her mind, reminding herself not to be immature about the situation. She's danced with plenty of men before, now was not the time to get nervous.

"How have you been doing? You haven't called…" Elijah asked her, not seeming like a teenager desperate for attention at that line, but taking the lack of phone call as a good sign. He had given her the phone for emergencies.

"I'm… okay," Maggie went with the safest word she could think of. She wasn't well, but she was better than where she was before. She found herself short on words while she focused on matching his led with the steps and grasping onto his hand and shoulder.

"And Esther?" His voice coaxed next to her ear, she could imagine the inquisitive expression without actually looking at him.

"I still see her," Maggie said honestly for a change. "But I think I'm getting it under control," She stated, at least now with her new peculiar ally she shouldn't see any more of her. Maggie figured it would probably best not to mention she was working with Mikael though. "And I have Jeremy to help too," She added on.

"Good, you don't have to do this alone," Elijah pointed out gently.

Maggie bit her lip and nodded against his shoulder. She never had been the best at accepting help from others though. The silence that lingered between them was filled by the soothing voice of the music as they swayed.

"Elijah?" Maggie asked in a soft voice, focusing her gaze absently on the other couples moving about the dance floor. She tried not to think about how it was her and Damon dancing here last time.

"Yes?" He answered her.

"If you're here, does that mean…" Maggie trailed her voice off questioningly.

"Rebekah and Kol are here as well," Elijah finished her for easily enough with a nod.

Maggie swallowed and fought the instinct to look around for them right then. The last one was the one that concerned her the most. "And Niklaus?" She wondered aloud.

Elijah inclined his head slightly at the name she used for him. Most people these days just called him Klaus, that's peculiar, he thought. "Gone," He replied softly. "He had some business away from Mystic Falls to attend to." In the form of some werewolf packs, to be more specific, and his siblings might have encouraged him to leave for a while.

"You're safe, I assure you," Elijah added on soothingly.

Maggie was relieved, but she wasn't. She let out an exhale, glad she wouldn't have to worry about running into him tonight.

"For now," She muttered bitterly.

Elijah pulled back enough to look her in the eyes at that, quirking an eyebrow. She let out a sigh before stating frankly, "I'm not foolish enough to believe he'll be gone forever, Elijah. He won't let it go either. One day he'll come back for me." She refrained adding sooner rather than later because she knew better.

Elijah was silent a moment before nodding, "You're right. He will return eventually, but time works a little differently immortals. It could be tomorrow or ten years from now."

Maggie tried to manage a small grin, but it failed. She was the optimism in his eyes, he had more hope for the best than she did. "Right," She replied, not genuinely believing him.

As the dance was beginning to wind down, another thought weighed on her mind. She had to keep herself from talking than letting her nerves get the best of her and letting her thoughts run wild.

"Elijah," She said his name again gently. "I never got the chance to thank you before," She started, but got hung up on her words, knowing it was both pasts she was talking about.

"For?" He urged to her continue curiously.

"Protecting my family all these years," She said, figuring just to go for it. "I know Rosemarie betrayed you and that couldn't have been easy, but you still protected my family for all these generations and kept them as safe as you could anyway."

Elijah was silent at first and admittedly stunned. She felt his hand on her waist tighten its grip just a little bit, not necessarily in an alarming way.

"Don't thank me," He finally responded in a guarded tone. "It was because of my actions your family was ever in any danger to begin with."

Maggie frowned a little and pulled back enough to look him in the eyes. That sounded so much like something Kol would say to her, she realized, and that thought hit her like a cold slap of reality. It wasn't Damon or Kol she was out on the dance floor, but this was Elijah. He was Kol's brother, they looked and sounded alike in ways, but this wasn't right.

"Maggie?" He asked, seeing the torn expression on her face.

"Could you excuse me?" Maggie asked, pulling her hands away from swiftly. She needed to step back a moment and get her head straight.

"Of course," Elijah barely murmured before she turned on her feet and darted away from him. He was left wondering what had startled her so badly.

Stupid, _stupid_. Maggie mentally reprimanded herself as she weaved her way through people. She kept herself from rubbing her temples and letting out a groan. What was she doing? Elena was supposed to be the one dancing with Elijah, not her. This wasn't at all going how it was supposed to go.

She needed a drink.

Maggie made her way towards the drink table, shaking her head slightly. Everything was messed up sideways, the dance and the celebration was familiar but so different this time around.

She made it a few more steps before she felt someone grasp at her wrist to get her attention, stopping her. It immediately reminded her of the way that Damon grabbed her outside of the Grill.

"Damnit, Da-" Maggie snarled while spinning on her heel, raising her free hand in the air in the process. Her words and her wrist were both halted abruptly though. She wasn't met with a gaze of piercing blue eyes.

Her hand was caught in the air swiftly. "Whoa, easy there, darling," Kol warned her carefully, his eyes wide at her instinctive reaction. She was a jumpy little thing.

Maggie nearly stumbled forward from the momentum of her steps, but caught herself staring at the youngest Original towering over her with his height. "Kol," The name fell from her lips and she did a terrible job at hiding the relief.

He didn't let go of her wrist, leaving it hanging in the air posed between them. He gave it a pointed glance, laced with curiosity and amusement. "Were you… about to _slap_ me?" He asked.

"Yes, well no," Maggie fumbled over her words. While she spoke, Kol lowered her wrist to a reasonable height between them, but kept a grasp on it. "I thought you were Damon, he's been a little grabby lately," It sounded feeble her when she said aloud, but her voice trailed at his actions. Kol's eyes narrowed slightly at what she said before he looked down at her arm. He had her forearm exposed up in the air.

"What are you doing?" She had to ask about the chills he was giving her, not necessarily in a bad way. They were from the way he squinted slightly at her arm and his other hand ran his fingertips lightly up and down her forearm.

"Just making sure those incompetent nurses followed the instructions I gave them," He answered her without looking up from his inspection.

"Oh," Maggie mumbled, remembering waking up in the hospital and how the nurses treated the walker bite. While he inspected her arm, it gave her a chance to glance him over. The clean and crisp lines of his suit didn't do anything to help the way her heart was pounding out of her chest at the moment, especially with the way he was touching her, even if he didn't realize it.

Kol seemed satisfied that there were no lasting scars of any sort on her arm. "Now, would you do me a favor and stop trying to kill yourself?" He taunted her, but the seriousness was laced in his words. Honestly, this was the third time now.

"Hey!" Maggie protested defensively, pulling her arm back from his hands immediately. She was just about to snap in response to his condescending remark, but then she stopped, literally mouth open.

This wasn't Damon telling her this, or Glenn, or her sister or anyone else from her family.

It was coming from Kol, which normally she would completely appreciate. But everything was different now.

Kol frowned slightly at the dazed way she stared at him. It almost had him second guessing what he said, why was she looking at him like that?

It almost sounded as if, dare she say it, that he cared.

Before he could question why she was looking at him like that, Maggie suddenly stepped forward to him. Kol's hands instinctively rose in the air to push her back, not expecting the quick approach, but they awkward froze when he realized what was going on.

She was hugging him, not attacking him. Kol blinked incredulously, feeling the arms wrapped around his torso and the chin tucked against his shoulder.

"Did you not hear what I just said?" Kol snapped out, his fingers twitching in the air. He wasn't quite sure where to put them and Maggie made no move to back away from him, even despite his rigidness.

Tell the girl not to get herself killed and she hugs an Original. How is that for logic?

"Oh please, we both know if you were going to kill me you would have done it already," Maggie dismissed, her voice coming right next to his ear. Kol's eyebrows rose at the frankness, but he didn't object to that.

Maggie went on to suggest instead, "How about instead I won't ask why you saved me and you won't ask why I need this?"

She wanted to know why he saved her at the hospital, but she needed to be close to him like this even more.

Maggie didn't get a response from Kol, but nor did he push her away. He had to admit that she had him there with that point, but he wouldn't say so. Instead, he let her cling to him like a lifeline, trying to understand where all of this was coming from.

Maggie clutched to the jacket of his suit tightly, just for a moment letting herself being able to enjoy the warmth and comfort of having him close again. She didn't really begin to relax until she felt a pair of hesitant hands wrap around her waist. It was almost shy, but Maggie knew he wasn't a shy man.

Kol blinked and swallowed incredulously any words that tried to form. He wanted to say something and he wanted to pull back enough to at least see her face, but at the same time he didn't want to ruin… whatever this was.

Some of the stiffness eased out of his shoulders, but Maggie could tell he was still a little uncomfortable. She didn't care. She let out a relieved sigh, taking in the scent of him that she had missed so much. One hand reached up to the back of his neck, touching his hair lightly in the process.

It was the closest feeling of being home she had experienced yet since everything happened.

"Has anyone told you that you're a bossy little thing?" Kol asked of her in a teasing tone that was strained. He tried to fill the silence between them and alleviate the sudden tension.

Maggie let out a short laugh, one of the few genuine ones she had lately, before nodding against his shoulder. "Yes, actually," She answered, thinking she's heard that from a different vampire.

Feeling much better and calmer than before, Maggie pulled away gently just enough to look him in the eyes again. Kol was watching her with a gaze of mixed emotions. His natural charming reaction fell short, having been caught off guard by her. He was left trying to decipher her and what she would do next.

It was because of that, he didn't stop her when she reached up to his face and touched his cheek with her hand. For a moment, she marveled at the fact it was the same cheek she slapped the last time she was at this event.

"Thank you, Kol," She whispered to him sincerely, being able to smile fully. This time, she leaned up on her toes to his other cheek and placed her lips gently against it. She felt his breath hitch as she remained still.

Even though it was just a peck, Maggie let her lips linger and revel in the same display of affection before finally leaning back.

She gave him one more look before she slipped away from his hands. He rather numbly let her go and watched the coy glance over her shoulder as she disappeared into the crowd. He felt remarkably subdued by all of it, but incredibly confused at the same time.

* * *

Maggie touched her lips briefly as she approached the beverage table. She hid a small smile behind her hand. She had actually been able to hug and kiss Kol without him pushing her away or running away. Maybe it was childish, but she felt giddy over that simple fact.

And now she was about to finally get that drink.

Maggie stopped at the table, not paying much attention to the other people around it. She especially didn't immediately notice the blonde with wavy locks standing next to it, sipping her drink in a bored manner.

"So, is the toying with brothers a doppelganger thing or are you just that attention deprived?" The blonde spoke up, causing Maggie to glance over at her. She was met by an icy stare, just as icy as the blue dress she wore.

Maggie shook her head immediately, also hoping the Original couldn't hear just how startled she was. "Oh no, that's definitely a Petrova whore thing," She corrected her calmly while reaching for the first glass on the table. Maggie paused in her words to sniff the drink. She wrinkled her nose.

Vervain.

She set it back down and reached for another.

Rebekah quirked a manicured eyebrow at her. She folded her arms across her chest at that, leaning her hip back against the table.

"I respect Elijah, but it's not like that at all," Maggie explained quickly, still feeling alarmed that's how it looked to her.

"And what about Kol?" Rebekah asked of her suspiciously when Maggie didn't offer an explanation for that one.

Maggie took a sip of the fruit mix punch in her hand before replying. She shrugged her shoulders casually, figuring what the harm was in the truth this time. "And Kol… Well, it is like that," She said frankly.

Rebekah had to suppress the urge to roll her eyes, but it wasn't the first time she's heard a girl have a crush on one of her brothers. What intrigued her more was Maggie's first comment. "And what do you know about the Petrova women?" Rebekah questioned, not sure which one Maggie meant.

Maggie just shrugged her shoulders again while her eyes aimlessly passed over the crowd. "Other than they're manipulative back-stabbers? What's to know?" She replied.

Maggie could feel Rebekah's stare on the profile of her face, but she didn't turn towards her. She didn't want to make it evidently clear how uncomfortable she was under the scrutiny. Everything was so different when she was just a mortal again.

"What did you say your name was?" Rebekah finally inquired, thinking she may like whoever this mystery girl with the attitude was.

* * *

"And then she daggered me, in the back – through my dress!" Rebekah exclaimed, slamming her shot glass down against the bar counter.

"Through the dress?" Maggie mouthed, leaning her cheek against her hand, which her elbow was propped up on the counter. She was slouching against the bar counter in a rather undignified manner, but she didn't care. The empty bottle of whiskey in front of them was to blame for that.

Rebekah nodded, having thoroughly described the color and detailed of the red dress she was going to wear to that school dance.

"That bitch," Maggie swore. Even though she had heard these stories before, it felt like the first time again, especially since she was trying to match drink to drink with Rebekah.

But now she was thoroughly drunk and she knew it. She lost the feeling in her feet a long time ago and she had no idea how late it was. She just knew a while she got the bright idea to unlock the Grill so the two girls could have something better to drink than the watered down stuff at the Celebration.

And truthfully, Maggie just missed her slightly vapid and vindictive friend. It was a lot better than making small talk with the locals anyway.

"Completely ruined," Rebekah whined, having really liked that dress. But knife wounds in the back don't make for a good look.

"Kind of like you are right now," Rebekah pointed out bluntly. The Original was still easily on her two feet, only have a slight glow to her cheeks. Meanwhile, Maggie was sprawled on the bar stool, heavily leaning against the counter and only a few moments away from putting her head down on it too.

Truthfully, Maggie and probably should have restrained herself more than she did.

"Yeah," Maggie rubbed her eyes a bit, not even caring if she smeared anything. "I didn't really think about how I'm getting home tonight," She mumbled honestly. It would be a long staggering walk in the dark at this rate.

Rebekah smirked and glanced over Maggie towards the door. "I suppose my all-so-honorable brother could carry you home," She drawled out in a bored tone.

Maggie snorted and shook her head. "Yeah, right. I might wrinkle his suit," She muttered sarcastically.

"I don't particularly care about the suit, darling," Kol's voice spoke up from the side door entrance.

Maggie nearly fell off the stool from sitting upright so quickly. She hadn't even heard him come inside. She turned in time to see Kol sauntering up to the bar counter next to her and Rebekah.

"Kol," Maggie grinned at him, not having expected him to still be sticking around the Celebration this late.

"Having a good time, are we?" He asked of her teasingly. He cocked his head slightly at her with a smirk while one hand reached up to her hair. He tucked some of the disarray strands back where they belonged.

"Yeah," She answered bashfully, having to focus on speaking and not what his hand was doing. "But, I think it's time for me to go…"

Rebekah rolled her eyes from behind the two at how quickly she had been forgotten about.

"Well, I could carry you…" Kol let his voice trail tauntingly.

"No, no!" Maggie said quickly. "I got this," She said stubbornly, hoping she wasn't mumbling her words too much. She forced herself up to her feet, slapping her hand down against the counter as she did to prove her point.

Kol continued to smirk at her behavior and exchanged a glance with his sister. She was hiding a small smile too and just waved for them to go. It was time to take the drunken human home before she had a mess.

Maggie stopped just before the door, knowing Kol was following after her. "Wait, you did _drive_ here, right?" She asked him suspiciously, as if the thought only then occurred to her. Vamp speed would end well for her right now.

"Yes, I did," Kol chuckled at her before stepping forward to hold the door.

"Okay, good," Maggie sighed out in relief. She checked the pockets of her dress to make sure she had everything before stepping out into the Grill parking lot with Kol.

Her rational mind was having a hard time functioning with the fact she agreed to go home with Kol. Frankly, she was just so tired of overthinking everything and that was why she drank as much as she did. She just wanted her mind to stop for a little while.

They were approaching some of the vehicles when she spotted a familiar blue Camaro. What was that still doing here? Most people were starting to leave by now. "Damon's still here?" Maggie frowned while voicing her thoughts allowed.

Kol paused in his steps when Maggie slowed down. He just smirked knowingly while the brunette stared at the back of the vehicle, particularly the trunk.

"Wait," Maggie stated slowly before turning to Kol. "You didn't lock Damon in the trunk again, did you?"

Kol's eyes widened, genuinely taken back by that.

"It's alarming how quickly you figured that out, darling," Kol said honestly, not sure if he should be concerned or impressed.

Maggie let out a loud sigh and started shaking her head. Her gaze went down to her pockets as she started fumbling through them.

"If it counts for anything, he hit me first," Kol offered playfully, while he was wondering what she meant by _again_.

Maggie stopped searching her pockets when it occurred to her what she was looking for. Damon's spare keys… which are the keys she never got because she hardly spent any time with him. Barely paying attention to Kol, Maggie glanced back towards the roof of the Grill and swore lightly under her breath.

"Screw it," Maggie gave up. She had too much to drink to be dealing with this. "Stefan will find the spares."

Kol grinned at how quickly she dismissed it. Sensing he wasn't in any trouble, he stepped up to her and placed a hand lightly on the small of her back. "Let's go, shall we?" He suggested.

* * *

Kol had led her over to the silver Audi that she was familiar with. After he held the door open for her, she flopped down easily into the seat. It was comfortable, almost too comfortable and she had to fight to stay awake through the car ride.

Kol spoke very little while he drove. He hid his thoughts behind a smirk while he stole glances at the young woman. Once again she was remarkably calm in his presence, but he figured that was more to do with the alcohol and the fact she had so much of his blood in the hospital. That was it, he decided, it had to be because of the blood that she was being so warm to him now.

They drove through some streets before he finally came to a halt in front of the house he had in mind. Maggie lifted her head off the pane of the window to look up at the dark brown home, which was bathed in complete darkness at the moment. It didn't look like anyone was home.

"Lucy's house?" Maggie questioned aloud while Kol cut the engine.

"Yes, I don't exactly have an invitation into your house and something tells me I won't be getting one tonight," He smirked at her.

She didn't argue with him at that one. She just remained in her seat, mentally trying to will herself to find the energy to climb out. She was starting to realize just how exhausted she was now.

Kol opened the door on her side and leaned his hands against the frame while he stared down at her. Maggie shifted her feet with a groan out onto the pavement. Great, not only she would have to stand up and walk, but there were stairs to climb as well.

She looked up to catch an amused and expectant look from Kol.

"Alright, fine. Go ahead," Maggie conceded in defeat, waving a hand that fell heavily in her lap. Kol grinned at her stubbornness before leaning towards her. One arm wrapped under her knees easily and the other under her back.

Maggie naturally hooked her wrists around his neck while he lifted her up into his arms with ease. Kol shook his head slightly. For someone so set against being carried around, she seemed rather relaxed in his arms. He shut the car door behind him with his foot and marched up to the front of the house.

Maggie let out a soft content sigh against his shoulder while he unlocked the front door and stepped inside. Lucy must still be out, she figured.

"I swear I can normally handle my alcohol," Maggie mumbled, feeling a little embarrassed by the state she was in.

"Sure you can," Kol replied effortlessly, not exactly believing her.

"It's just… been a while," She continued on, vaguely thinking that she had also been a vampire the last time she was drinking.

"And I don't like being carried normally either," Maggie huffed out while Kol started to ascend the stairs with her.

"I gathered that much from your complete inability to take care of yourself," Kol snorted in response.

Maggie's face scrunched up in annoyance. "Jerk," She mumbled halfheartedly while he turned down the hallway at the top of the stairs. She barely processed how he was even careful enough to make sure her knees didn't bump against the walls.

Kol flicked on the light to the guest room that Maggie normally stayed in. He eased her down from his arms onto the bed, she slouched immediately against the array of pillows at the head board. Barely opening her eyes, she just curled up against the large body pillow, almost like a weary child.

"Don't you want to change first?" Kol asked of her, not wanting to sound like a perv, but that dress and those heels didn't look particularly comfortable to sleep in.

"Pffhh," Maggie let out in a rather un-lady like manner. "I spent most of November sleeping in a storage locker," She dismissed. This was a slice of heaven compared to that.

"Suit yourself," Kol shrugged easily enough and started to turn towards the door. He wasn't going to stick around to tuck her in and read a bedtime story, he was an Original for god's sake. In hindsight, just bringing her home and not draining her dry wasn't his modus operandi.

"Kol," Her voice stopped him at the doorway. He looked back to her to see her eyes were open, seemingly suddenly more lucid, almost like the thought of him leaving woke her up.

"I miss you," Maggie declared suddenly while staring up at him. His eyes narrowed on her thoughtfully and she corrected herself, hopefully before it was too late. "I mean, I missed you this past week."

For a moment, while she spoke, Kol wondered if she was more sober than she let onto. She seemed so determined to say what was on her mind.

"I probably shouldn't even be saying this and I know you're going to say it's the blood or the alcohol talking, but it's not. The truth is," Maggie finished, her words having drawn him back into the room and she looked him in the eyes, "I miss you."

Kol remained in stunned silence while he watched her. He ran his tongue briefly over his lips, trying to think of what to say, but he had no idea how to react to that.

She was drunk. He didn't know how much of this was sincere or how much she would even remember. Would she even remember getting home? It seemed unlikely. So how much of this was truth and was it even worth him giving it any consideration at all?

Whether it was true or not, he decided he couldn't walk out of the room with the way she was looking at him now. He sank down onto the bed, taking a seat in the space left right in front of her.

"You know what they say about drunken confessions, darling," Kol teased her lightly, seeing the warring emotions on her face. Disappointment was the most evident from his response.

"But," He continued, deciding that wasn't a good look for her. "Since we're admitting things we would otherwise never do, I'll offer one of my own."

Maggie shifted against the pillows, visibly perking up at that prospect. She watched him with wide, anxious eyes.

"The other night, I was watching this film… You can't tell Bekah, I thought it was supposed to be this manly action movie. But it ended up being much more romantic than I was expecting," His nose wrinkled a bit at that, causing Maggie to giggle slightly at his boyish charm.

"It was about this vigilante in a Guy Fawkes mask trying to blow up all these British buildings," Kol struggled to think of a way to describe the movie.

"I love that movie!" Maggie suddenly gasped, recognizing it immediately. The mask was rather distinctive. More importantly, she remembered the last night she saw that movie and what it led to afterwards.

"You've seen it before?" Kol questioned in surprise. It wasn't like he could talk about these things with his siblings, Rebekah was just as useless.

"Yes," Maggie nodded. "It's beautiful," She gushed a little bit more than she normally would, but the alcohol made her tongue loose. "But also really sad."

"Sad? How?" Kol briefly let himself get distracted from the point he was making. "The people got what they wanted in the end, did they not?" He didn't see how it was sad.

"It's sad because even though he loved her," Maggie explained patiently, despite how sluggish and tired she felt. "V still cared more about getting revenge than he did about Eve. He could have walked away from it with her and lived, but he didn't." Yes, the people got what they wanted, but she still felt for Eve.

Kol hummed slightly in thought. He hadn't looked at it that way before. "I suppose he did," He conceded. He shook his head slightly to get back to the point.

"When I was watching this film, I had this moment where…" He stopped, not sure if he was really saying this. His gaze remained absently on the comforter of the bed while he felt Maggie watching him. He struggled to sort through his thoughts and rationalize what he experienced then.

"And then the thought occurred to me…" Kol started over, looking into Maggie's emerald eyes this time. He was searching for an answer, but not necessarily from her. "I've been daggered for the past century, how could _any_ color film seem familiar to me?"

Maggie's brow furrowed in confusion. That was a good question, she tried to figure it out. No movie should be familiar to him. The way it could be is if he saw it before and that would only be possible if he…

"Kol," Maggie's voice rose suddenly, still a whisper. She didn't know what to say or where to begin, so she acted by reaching her hand out to his leaning against the bed comforter.

Kol stirred from his thoughts at the contact and glanced down to their hands. Almost immediately, he pulled his hand away from hers.

It was a silly thought anyway, and pointless for him to tell her.

The hand he pulled away reached up to Maggie's cheek, silencing any words on her lips by cupping it the way she had done to him at the celebration.

"Goodnight, mala lisica," Kol told her finally and firmly. He stifled any protest from her by leaning forward swiftly and placing his lips against her forehead.

At first she reached up to his wrist, to stop him from leaving, but as he was kissing her forehead those fingers went slack. Her eyes shut heavily, not from her own freewill, but from the mental coaxing of the Original. Her breathing leveled out and he didn't pull away until she was sound asleep.

Kol opened his eyes and briefly studied her relaxed expression. There were no more worry lines or thick layers of apprehension. There were still bags under her eyes and she looked like she was in much need of genuine rest on top of a real meal.

His thumb stroked her cheek lightly before he finally stood up to leave the room.

The whole time he shut off the lights in the room and the hallway, he thought back to that moment he was watching that movie. It wasn't about the plot, the storyline or the characters. It was that brief moment at the end, when Big Ben was exploding in an array of fireworks that it happened.

For just a moment, he saw her face. She was looking over her shoulder at him, in that hauntingly sad and longing way that she looked at him tonight. But it was different, her eyes were puffy from crying then and he found himself wondering why she was so sad.

The more he thought about it, the more he thought he was just being paranoid and over reading into it.

But he was left wondering, why would his mind make up a glimpse of a room he didn't recognize? Or why would he catch the brief glisten of a wine glass in her hands from the glow of the TV?

Why would it be _her _that he saw?

* * *

_Author's Note: Hello everyone!_

_Remember that time it took me a month to update? Yeah, sorry about that, I tried to warn ya but my life has been really hectic. Hopefully it won't happen again. _

_Anyway, I hope the chapter was worth the wait! I'd like to think the Kolie moments were pretty epic, so let me know what you think! Also let me know your thoughts on all the Malijiah and the Originals. How about Maggie's pact with Mikael?_

_Anyway, I know I have been gone a while, but please please leave a review and let me know you're still out there!_

_Review responses –_

_Guest: I'm glad you liked the way last chapter was written, I might try it out again later!_

_M: Haha speaking of wrapping Maggie up in a blanket, that's almost what Kol did! I love all the support and love you give me, keep it up! Thank you so much!_

_L: That's an interesting thought you got there, and Elijah's story will be explained a little bit in this sequel but much more in Emerald Rage. It does look like we're getting closer to a mating bond connection. _

_I'm hoping to have a little more free time, but I don't know if that'll happen. I have five classes in the fall and it looks like I'm picking up a part time job too now. xD But I'll try to stay on top of everything. _

_aSprightlySoar: Thank you so much! I'm glad you loved that line at the end, I definitely put it there for a reason. So what are your thoughts on Kol's little confession? ;D I think it's interesting given your last review. I'm glad you liked the music, I feel like True North is perfect for Maggie and Kol and really makes the scene that much more intense. That's a great song suggestion, I think I'll actually use it in a later chapter!_

_Guest: thank you so much for checking out my tumblr! If you do sign up, please follow me or whatever. __ If you ever have questions or just want to talk, let me know. Thank you for the review and sticking with me._


	7. Chapter 7

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

_Chapter Songs:_

_The Civil Wars – Dust to Dust_

_Scene: Kol and Maggie on the park bench_

_Boyce Avenue – Faithfully (Journey Cover)_

_Scene: Elijah and Maggie in the hospital_

_Sounds Under Radio – All You Wanted_

_Scene: Maggie's birthday_

_Chapter Seven_

The more he thought about it, the more he thought he was just being paranoid and it over reading into it.

But he was left wondering, why would his mind make up a glimpse of a room he didn't recognize? Or why would he catch the brief glisten of a wine glass in her hands from the glow of the TV?

Why would he be _her _that he saw?

* * *

Maggie stirred with a groaning that could easily be confused with the gurgling of a walker. In her defense, she felt about as lively as one. Her head was pounding before she even opened her eyes. It felt like her brain was just a shriveled up raisin from the dehydration and generosity of that whiskey.

She found herself exactly the way she recalled passing out after the Founder's Celebration. She had on the same dress and even still wearing her shoes while sprawled out on top of the comforter and pillows. Ruffling up her hair a bit, Maggie squinted and tried to gain her bearings. She was definitely still at Lucy's house and it sounded like there were voices coming through the open bedroom door from downstairs.

For several minutes, Maggie sat on the edge of the bed with her head in her hands. The slightly nauseous feeling in her stomach didn't help. It wasn't overwhelming, there was nothing more to do for than let it pass. She spent the time trying to recall the last things she could remember.

She remembered the Founder's Celebration, dancing with Elijah and drinking with Rebekah. Kol brought her here and she vaguely wondered how long Damon was locked up in the trunk. She remembered talking to Kol, but that's where things didn't make sense. She felt a little embarrassed at what she told Kol, but also wondered how exactly they ended up talking about movies.

In the end, while it felt like Maggie remembered everything, she felt there must be something she was forgetting. Because quite frankly their conversation was quirky, odd and giving her a larger headache the more she thought about it.

Maggie managed to get the energy to stir from the bedroom and shuffle down the stairs, following the smell of eggs, which wasn't particularly appealing, and the sound of voices.

"I swear to Mother Nature, Seamus, change it back or I'll show you exactly where I'll shove my appreciation," Maggie overhead Lucy in mid tirade while she stood in front of the stove and waved a spatula towards the obnoxious warlock sitting on the kitchen island.

"Oh, don't be like that Lucy. Everyone loves this song!" Seamus exclaimed, holding out the cellular device in his hand that Maggie could only guess belonged to Lucy. Coming from it was a rather ridiculous tune that Maggie recognized as soon as it got to the chorus. "Seriously, show me someone that doesn't listen to this song every Halloween," Seamus went on with a knowing smirk.

"I don't need the _Monster Mash_ playing every time Elijah calls me, Seamus!" Lucy snapped back at them. Neither had immediately noticed Maggie standing in the threshold of the room, holding her shoes in one hand with a raving case of bed head.

Seamus just grinned broadly, enjoying how silly it even sounded from Lucy.

"I can't stand that song," Maggie mumbled out thoughtlessly, too tired and out of it really question what was going on. That song got repetitive and annoying at best.

"Thank you!" Lucy exclaimed loudly, throwing her hands in the air and whirling on her heels to see who agreed with her. "Oh, Maggie," She stopped suddenly at the sight of the doppelganger.

"Did you stay here last night?" Lucy asked, her eyes passing her up and down.

Lucy seemed to have had a late night herself too, the tiredness showing in her eyes. But she had more energy and recovered from it quicker than Maggie. She didn't exactly pay attention to who was going in and out of her house last night.

"Uh, yeah, sorry about that," Maggie mumbled and walked into the room. She slid onto the island counter, taking a seat next to Seamus. The warlock absently pressed a few buttons on the cell phone while quirking an eyebrow at her appearance. "I wasn't in the best shape to go home," Maggie added on lamely.

"We can see that," Seamus piped up, earning a weary glare from Maggie. "How did you get here?"

"Kol," Maggie answered absently while she was eying up the stove. Eggs didn't sound terribly appealing at the moment. She was just contemplating that maybe some toast would be safe when Lucy was setting the spatula down and looking at her with sudden concern.

"Kol brought you home last night?" Lucy had to clarify she heard her correctly.

Maggie frowned slightly, sensing the sudden shift in the room and she nodded.

Lucy barely casted a glance towards her fellow servant of nature before approaching Maggie. "Seamus, get the first aid kit," She ordered.

"Already on it!" The warlock in question had hopped off the counter faster than Maggie could believe. She just caught a sight of the back of his head before he disappeared into the hallway.

"Alright, honey," Lucy's voice drew her attention back to witch. "Show me where he got you," She requested while scrutinizing Maggie oddly, she placed a few fingers under her chin to prompt her to turn her head from side to side.

"What?" Maggie's expression scrunched up into further confusion. Her mind was ticking a little slowly, because it took a few before it caught up with what Lucy was implying.

"Oh, no!" Maggie gasped and shook her head, leaning back from the witch. "He didn't bite me."

"He didn't?" Lucy's gaze snapped up from her neck to Maggie's face, cocking her head at that. "Are you sure?" She questioned in disbelief.

"Yes," Maggie said firmly. She was many things and a little silly last night, but being drained of blood was something she was pretty sure she would remember. Especially since said blood would be a poison to Kol.

Lucy pulled her hand back slowly, seeing the lack of doubt on Maggie's expression. More importantly, there weren't any blood stains on her. "Well, that's not like him," Lucy murmured, thinking of all the times she heard or witness Kol playing with pretty little things like Maggie.

"Hey, uhh… I can't find first aid kit," Seamus's voice came from the hallway.

Lucy let out a sigh. That boy was useless for finding anything. "Never mind, Seamus," She shouted in his direction before looking back to Maggie. "Come on, let's get you something to eat."

* * *

Maggie ended up nursing her toast at the dinette table with Seamus and Lucy. The other two were chattier than Maggie was while she hugged a cup of coffee. She only absently listened to their accounts of the previous night, her mind was more preoccupied thinking about hers. She couldn't shake the memory of Kol carrying her up the stairs, not that she particularly wanted to.

Lucy said they were planning to head over to the witch's house to get some of the electrical done for Bonnie. She threw out the suggestion of Maggie tagging along. The doppelganger shrugged her shoulders and figured why not. Anything to keep her from the Spanish Inquisition that would be waiting for her later.

The three of them piled into Lucy's car. First they stopped at Maggie's house, just to get a change of clothes. She dodged most of her family members, simply getting in and out of the house. Then they went to the old witch's house.

The nerves of going to that place didn't catch up to her until they were pulling up the gravel driveway. Maggie realized the last time she had been at this place was when she threatened Abby's life while Kol was being tortured.

Because of that reluctance, Maggie was the last one to enter the house while Lucy and Seamus saw themselves in. Her eyes passed over it briefly. It was even less renovated than she remembered, making it appear eerie, even in the daylight.

Even she had the car ride to mentally prepare herself, she wouldn't have been able to do for meeting Bonnie.

While Seamus and Lucy stepped into the living room, or what looked like it would be a living room since there was construction material everywhere and very little furniture, Maggie hung back in the threshold. She was frozen by the dark skinned brunette standing over some of the drawing plans. Maggie only numbly heard Lucy introduce her to Bonnie.

A barrage of emotions assaulted her. Anger for the way this witch had tortured her, the involvement she had in her life before. Even more importantly, also guilt, for the way she had to treat Abby, but Glenn too. A part of her was mad at this witch for being a driving wedge between him and the Atlanta group. At the same time, Maggie knew because of her, Glenn would now never meet Bonnie.

None of these emotions she could let show though as the Bonnie smiled at her politely from across the room. "Hi, I'm Bonnie. Lucy's cousin," Bonnie nodded towards the witch, who just gave a knowing smirk.

Maggie had to swallow the thick lump in her throat before she choked out shortly, "Maggie." She didn't move to shake the witch's hand, which was a little awkward but Maggie didn't care. She didn't want to get too close to her or the witch read anything from her touch.

Bonnie frowned slightly at the abruptness, but eventually shrugged it off as they got to work.

Maggie didn't find herself of as much use other than an extra pair of hands. She didn't know anything about electrical. It left Lucy trying to keep Seamus focused while Bonnie reminded both of them to stay on task when they got into bickering.

Maggie ended up focusing more of her work on helping clean up the place. She was scrubbing down some of the walls in the foyer when Lucy poked her head around the corner.

"Hey Maggie, would you mind going down to the basement and see if there are a few lanterns?" Lucy asked, some aspects of the house were naturally dark with no power running through the place.

"Sure," Maggie replied, dropping the sponge into the bucket before brushing her hands off. She followed where Lucy pointed the stairs out before treading down the steps. She made it the first couple before deciding to tread more slowly on the old, rickety wood.

Maggie stopped at the bottom, immediately hit with the thick and musty air of the basement. There were a few storm windows that allowed for a little light to trickle in, but everything else was cast in shadows. It was stagnant and oppressive, but Maggie carried on anyway.

She faintly heard the voices carrying from upstairs, but didn't pay it any attention. Her eyes flickered over the shelves, half inspecting the room out of curiosity and the other looking for the lanterns. If the cobwebs hadn't been the giveaway this place had been untouched for ages, it was the antiquity of the items, including the candles.

Way to live up to the creeping witch stereotype, Maggie thought absently while she stepped into the large room.

The voices were getting louder, but they were hushed. More like whisperings.

Maggie looked both ways over her shoulders, frowning and trying to figure out where it was coming from. Whoever it was, they didn't sound happy to have her here. They sounded low and vicious, but the only thing she could identify was her full name.

She froze in her stance, listening to them for a few moments before they faded away. Feeling the hairs standing up on her arms, Maggie decided that was enough for her. She realized that this was also likely the same room that Stefan had hid the Original family coffins in before.

It was time to get those lanterns and get out of this creepy house, she decided.

She approached the line of shelves along the wall, trying to find said items. Some of the candles that remained there mixed with old and new. Maggie didn't want to imagine Bonnie creepily sitting in a circle of them and chanting.

"It was a bold move of you to enter this dwelling, nightcrawler," A voice spoke up behind Maggie. It was by no means a whisper and nearly made her jump out of her skin.

Maggie turned, almost tripping over her own feet to see an older African woman standing before her. She had dark eyes that bore into Maggie's every movement, with a heavy set of shadows around them. Her hair was a mess of dreadlocks and knots that appeared to have no reason to them, but fastened to keep away from her face.

Maggie didn't know what stunned her more, the way this woman spoke with a thick accent completely foreign to her or the way she appeared.

She wore a dark apron over her clothing with a red faded long sleeve shirt of sorts. The material was thick and course, clearly coming from a time before textile machines. Necklaces of thick leather and hand carved beads adorned her dress and bracelets wrapped around her wrists.

"Especially a daywalker, like yourself," The woman sneered with a tone of disdain. She added on while looking at Maggie, but at the same time not really seeing her, "The greatest betrayals always come from them."

Maggie felt her mind racing as fast her heart rate was. It quickly came up with three basic facts. She never heard this woman approach her and with the way she was dressed, she was likely dead. To be in this house, she was likely a witch as well. And lastly, from the way she spoke, she had Maggie confused for something else.

"I'm not a vampire," Maggie blurted out quickly, thinking she was confused like Lucy had been.

The witch narrowed her eyes, clearly not quite believing Maggie. "Perhaps not now," She murmured and took a step around Maggie, circling her to size her up. "But once was, always is."

Maggie shifted with the witch's steps, turning and not trusting to turn her back on her. She frowned, thinking she made no sense. "Who are you?" She asked.

The witch regarded her coolly before answering simply, "Ayana."

"Ayana?" Maggie struggled on the name. It sounded familiar. The witch was in no hurry to supply her with assistance, she patiently watched while the gears turned into Maggie's mind until she understood. "As in… Esther's mentor?"

Ayana's jaw locked, her expression steeling into a cold stone at the mention of Esther's name. Briefly, Maggie had worried she had said the wrong thing. But it made no doubt that she had correctly guessed who the witch was.

"Esther has always been prone to making grave mistakes," Ayana spoke in a tone strictly unsympathetic.

"I tried to warn her against using Magdalene's Mark," Ayana's voice came from behind Maggie. She spun on her heel to find the witch behind her then, having been staring at her shoulder. "Just as I warned her against using Qetsiyah's immortality spell. It had been a mistake then to give to Silas."

Maggie shook her head, practically feeling a headache coming on from trying to keep up with what she was saying. "Who's Silas?" Maggie wasn't even going to attempt the other names, "What are you talking about?"

Ayana took a deep breath, setting her hands folded calmly in front of her. The doppelganger was young and inexperienced. She wasn't going to fault for her that.

"Qetsiyah is my ancestor. She was a servant of nature, of great power. Silas was a warlock and she was completely enamored with him," Ayana began to explain.

Maggie quickly forgot about the lanterns, her curiosity peaking at this story and wondering what it had to do with her.

"However, Silas had already taken a lover. A peasant girl, her name was Magdalene. I do not know how it came to be, but Silas went to Qetsiyah for her help, to help create a spell that would allow him and his beloved live forever," Ayana paused to take a deep breath before the disappointment oozed into her next words.

"Qetsiyah, blinded by her obsession with Silas, believed he wanted this spell to unite them. She created the first immortality spell and gave it to Silas, but he used it on himself and Magdalene instead. While the spell granted them immortality, like every consequence of nature, there were repercussions to maintain the balance. They awoke with a thirst for flesh, unable to touch the sunlight and weak to wood."

Maggie gasped at what she was alluding to. "They_ choose_ to become vampires?" Maggie questioned, knowing it was a choice she made, but it the decision had been thrust upon her in extreme circumstances.

"It is said, when Magdalene awoke, she was so appalled by what they had become, she left a mark on Silas. A bond to remind them of their humanity and not the monsters they had become. A mark that can only be carried on through her descendants."

Maggie found herself wanting to ask more about this mark, but she didn't want to interrupt the witch.

"When Qetsiyah found out about Silas' perceived betrayal, she was completely enraged. It is said, she killed Magdalene out of spite in front of Silas. She then disfigured him, to remove the mark and make sure that no other woman could love him again before entombing him with the immortality cure."

Maggie was reeling at this, having gotten caught up in the story. "She did all that to him out of spite?" Maggie questioned, earning a confirming nod from Ayana. This Qetsiyah sounded like a vengeful woman she hoped she would never have to meet. "And then trapped him with the cure? _Why_?"

"To give him a chance to repent, to see the error of his ways and take the cure so he can pass on to the Other Side and join Qetsiyah," Ayana's expression didn't give away whether or not she approved of these actions, but her tone wasn't warm either.

"That's insane," Maggie blurted out, wondering what sort of obsession would it take to drive someone to such extreme lengths. But almost as soon as it crossed her, she stopped that line of thought. She knew what kind, she had seen it before in a man named Shane.

"Perhaps," Ayana commented neutrally before moving on. "This spell Qetsiyah created was the same spell I warned Esther and Mikael against using a thousand years later."

Maggie nearly choked on that, she could do some basic math and figured out quickly just how far back in time they were talking about. She briefly wondered if a spell could be passed through that many generations, how many people have used it? And just how many different bloodlines could there really be?

Before Maggie could ask any of these questions, Ayana's next words stole her attention. "She didn't heed my warning then, nor did she using Magdalene's mark as a hold." Ayana's gaze traveling over Maggie's body once more caused goose bumps along her arms.

"This mark," Maggie inquired hesitantly, noticing the reoccurrence in her story. "Is it like…" Maggie wasn't sure she was ask, what were the odds right? But she had to wonder, as she questioned, her eyes wandered over her right side.

"Like the one upon your shoulder?" Ayana quipped, almost with an amused smirk at Maggie's naivety.

Maggie frowned, letting out a disappointed sigh at the obvious fact. "But mine is gone," She pointed out, even though with the tank top she was wearing Ayana could plainly see that. Maggie looked down, straining her neck just to see smooth, unblemished skin.

Ayana choose to reiterate the words she had spoken to Esther. "What once was has become and cannot be undone," She stated finally.

That was certainly cryptic and not exactly helpful. Maggie had to keep herself from snapping out at that. She looked back up at the witch, but let out another jump of surprise.

She was gone.

She was just completely absent from the room, leaving Maggie to the unlit candles and spider webs.

"So which one of my dead ancestors were you talking to?" Lucy alerted Maggie to her presence from the bottom of the staircase. She was leaning casually against the wall with an ankle tucked behind the other and her arms folded across her chest.

Lucy would admit she was beginning to wonder why Maggie was gone so long, until she heard Maggie talking in the basement. It wasn't the first time someone heard voices or seen ghosts in this house. She was willing to bet it was Emily this time. She gave Bonnie a good scare a few times.

Maggie certainly looked spooked from the way she jolted and turned towards Lucy. Maggie held a hand over her heart before she calmed down enough to answer, not looking Lucy in the eye quite completely, "Ayana."

Lucy pulled her head back this time, rather impressed. That was an ancestor much older than she was expected. "What did she say?"

Maggie gaped, trying to find the words. She wasn't sure what to say, or better yet, what to believe.

"Just I… that I've worn out my welcome here," She finally stated in a reserved tone.

* * *

Maggie didn't hang around the house much longer after that. She left the house with Lucy swearing that she would add another drink to that growing tab she owed her the day she could spill the truth. Lucy dropped Maggie back off at the Greene house. She had been expecting a lot of questioning from her group, but once they found out where she had been, they were relatively okay about it.

She didn't tell them much, granted. She didn't tell them just how drunk she got or that Kol took her home, but she did say she stayed at Lucy's house. Apparently that was a much more socially acceptable option than the Salvatore's or Mikaelson mansion, like in the past.

Maggie didn't hang around the house long though, she had a late shift at the Grill. She went through the motions numbly before taking the long walk downtown. It gave her time to mull over everything she just heard and seen.

She didn't get much time to think about her whole seeing ghosts situation. While she walked through the front doors of the Grill, she thought on the upside she hadn't seen Mikael or Esther today. Maybe he was sticking to his word after all.

"Hey Jer," Maggie greeted the youngest Gilbert, who was packing up some of the lunch serving, while she went around the back of the bar counter.

Jeremy looked up from his spot and flashed her a smile. "Hey Maggie," He responded sheepishly.

What Maggie found more curious was the obvious flush of his cheeks and the brunette girl sitting on the counter next to Jeremy. She had a mess of curls and the meek demeanor of a bookworm. They clearly had been sharing some sort of joke until Maggie walked in. Jeremy tried to sober up his expression, but the girl didn't bother hiding it.

Briefly Maggie's eyes wandered to the girl, expecting Jeremy to at least introduce her or explain what she was doing here. Seeing Jeremy not even bother, Maggie just shrugged and dropped her stuff behind the counter.

Out of the corner of her eye, Maggie watched the girl kick her feet lightly in the air from the counter while Jeremy continued packing up. She kept making faces at Jeremy, who was struggling not to respond to it.

Maggie let it carry on while she started working for a few minutes. At least, until she heard one quiet comment from the girl.

"You know, it's okay to have a crush on her," She teased Jeremy lightly.

Maggie just had to say something at that point. "She better not be talking about me, Jer," She chimed in.

She expected just to make Jeremy a little flustered, not for him to practically drop the hot pan in his hands on the counter.

Maggie looked up from her box to see the girl and Jeremy staring at her with wide-eyed stunned expressions.

"You heard me?" The girl questioned, for the first time really looking at Maggie.

Maggie looked at her oddly. What the hell kind of question was that?

"Wait, you can see Anna?" Jeremy asked, glancing between the two females in disbelief.

"Yeah," Maggie replied automatically, wondering what the big deal was until it dawned on her. "Oh… you're dead, _dead_," She pointed out, looking directly at Anna.

The ghost nodded numbly.

Shit, Maggie thought, so much for breaking the news to Jeremy gently.

* * *

Coming clean to Jeremy about the ghosts was actually easier than Maggie expected. Of course, part of that was because she only told him half of the truth. She was honest with the fact she had been seeing them since she awoke in the hospital. Apparently bleeding out from a skull fracture was a near enough death experience for him to believe she had become a medium, like him and Matt.

She just left out the details about Esther and Mikael. If anything, Jeremy seemed excited to hear that she could see the ghosts too. Matt had only ever been able to see Vicki and that wasn't exactly a positive subject to bring up. Jeremy finally had something that he could share with someone else about the supernatural that wasn't controlled or influenced by his sister.

He was quick to agree to help her block out the unwanted ghosts. In truth, if it regarded ghosts, Maggie was willing to bet she could ask almost anything of Jeremy.

She felt a little relieved after he left his shift. Maggie was glad to have one more support system to rely on. Of course she felt guilty about not being completely honest with him, but it was a closer to the truth than before.

During the rest of the shift, Maggie decided there was one upside to working at the Grill again as a human. She didn't have to worry about bleeding out dry any of the people that dropped in and out. They didn't look at her like some monster. Several people were friendly and chatted with her for several minutes.

One of them that took a seat at the bar counter in the early evening was Alaric Saltzman. At first he just asked how about she was doing and recovering, having heard about her trip to the hospital. Maggie thought he was just being nosy, but obliged him. It wasn't until he took a genuine interest in how she and her family were settling did she soften up.

He was a caring and genuine person, Maggie realized, she had so easily overlooked him in the past. Maggie felt bad that she was telling him how Beth and Carl were loving school while her family was truthfully still secretly planning to leave.

Maggie was surprised by who decided to join them after a while, still wearing the hospital scrubs and all.

"Dr. Fell, what are you doing here?" Maggie asked her, not trying to sound rude but surprised.

The doctor slung her back tiredly onto the bar counter while she took up a seat next to Alaric. He didn't seem too surprised to see her. He just flashed a smile in her direction.

"I had a feeling he would be here," Meredith nodded towards the school teacher.

Maggie smirked at Alaric. Busted.

Maggie reached under the counter to quietly pull out a third glass for Meredith to drink from. She wasn't trying to make it too obvious they were drinking from the whiskey stock.

"I was also looking for you," Meredith declared while Maggie poured her a drink. The doppelganger raised her eyebrows in question at the doctor.

"Your check up appointment with me?" Meredith clarified, searching Maggie's face for recognition. "You blew it off…"

She saw guilt in the form of Maggie not immediately looking up from the counter after topping off the drink.

"Yeah, about that…" Maggie's voice trailed off. She didn't have a good excuse for not going. She just had enough of hospitals lately and being strung up on machines, poked and prodded for tests.

"Hey, I get it, you were just in the ER not too long ago," Meredith jumped in quietly, despite how frustrated she was that Maggie went back on their deal. "And I'm not saying this to hound on you, but I can't help you if you don't show up…"

"And Maggie," Meredith added on, giving a glance towards Alaric before continuing, "This isn't the sort of thing gets better the longer you put it off…"

Maggie knew by this she meant the leukemia and Alaric sitting next to Meredith was the only reason why she didn't say it aloud. "I know," Maggie admitted quietly.

"Please, at least just think about getting the treatment," Meredith tried to coax. Based on Maggie's expression, she knew she wouldn't get an answer today, but maybe she could get her thinking about it.

"I will," Maggie replied solemnly.

Meredith let the subject drop after that. Maggie spent some time with them talking and she got an invite for card night at Meredith's apartment. Apparently it was some sort of get together that several friends had fairly often, Lucy was amongst the ones that went, and it was adults only. Maggie told her she would think about it.

* * *

It was late in the evening when Maggie locked up the Grill for the night. She moved through her tasks a little slower than usual. She had a lot on her mind and sometimes it was good just to have something monotonous, uninterrupted to think it through.

The bag she slung over her shoulder as she shut the doors behind felt heavier than normal with all the burdens that were weighing her down lately. By this point, she was tired and exhausted, but she knew she had some tough decisions to make ahead soon. She was just between deciding when they would be when she was crossing into the town square, heading in the direction of the Greene house.

Maggie realized the town square wasn't completely deserted in this evening. There was no evening bonfire, having just had a rather large celebration. Instead, there was one single person sitting on one of the park benches.

After seeing her share of cheesy horror movies, Maggie knew it would be a terrible cliché for her to approach this lone individual sitting in the shadows. They didn't even pick one of the street torches to sit under.

But Maggie figured she knew most of the supernatural creatures in this town, there was very little that could surprise her anymore.

Carefully, she approached him and Maggie had to squint to recognize the black jacket or the dark brown hair, being ruffled up by the fingers grasping his head.

"Kol?" Maggie called out to him gently, a little alarmed to see him hunched over with his elbows on his knees. She couldn't see his face.

"Hello darling," He responded to her without flinching, his voice was strained despite trying to hide with his usual charm.

Maggie stopped a few feet from him, clutching onto her bag tightly while deciding what to do. He didn't move or say any further. Everything screamed in his body language to be left alone, but when had she ever been good at doing that?

Finally feeling bold, Maggie moved to take a seat on the park bench next to him. She wasn't exactly generous with the space between them, but she made a point not to touch him. He could be volatile at best when agitated. "What's wrong?" She kept her voice to almost a whisper.

Kol shook his head slightly in his hands. With a sigh, he ran them down over his face wearily, before straightening up a little. He gazed off directly in front him, still leaning on his elbows. "It's nothing to concern yourself with…" He denied at first before adding on, waving a hand dismissively, "It's just these headaches I've been getting lately."

He had come here to clear his mind. The air was crisp and the night refreshing. At least there were no annoying, hovering siblings to bother him here.

"Headaches?" Maggie frowned, wondering how that was possible. "But you're an Original. Vampires don't get headaches…"

"Very astute observation there, sweetheart," Kol bit out sarcastically without looking at her.

Maggie inhaled sharply, having to fight back the initial instinct to snap at the condescending remark. She couldn't lie and say she didn't think about getting up and walking away then, let him be stubborn and deal with it.

But damnit, she was helpless when it came to Kol. She would never walk away from him.

"I might be able to help," Maggie offered instead, putting her bag down on the ground by their feet.

She finally got a glance from Kol by that, although a rather skeptical one.

Taking what she could, Maggie shifted on her seat so she was facing Kol directly, one leg tucked under her and the other dangling off the bench. "Come here, put your head down," She commanded gently, patting her lap after scouting back to give him space.

Kol quirked an eyebrow with an obvious '_Are you serious_?' question in his eyes.

Maggie just stared at him expectantly, refusing to back down or feel insecure about it.

Finally, Kol let out a sigh and figured to hell with it. "Alright, fine," He huffed out before shifting to lie on his back. He slowly lowered his head down where Maggie had suggested, leaving him to gaze up at the stars of the night, partially covered by the clouds. Due to his stature, his legs were left draped off the end of the park armrest while he let his hands fold on his stomach.

"Well, I could certainly get used to this view," Kol commented, not looking at the stars exactly. This angle looking up at Maggie wasn't exactly the most modest for the woman. Especially when she just had on a light summer top.

Maggie gave a roll of her eyes at his cheeky grin. "Close your eyes," She ordered, fighting back a smirk herself.

Kol's eyes narrowed at her suspiciously. If he could, he would sleep with his eyes open. He didn't trust people that easily. In this instant, he only relented because he figured there wasn't much harm the mortal could cause to him. Reluctantly, he followed her order.

Only once he did, Maggie let her fingers slide into his hair. Her fingertips went straight to his scalp while she bit her lip, trying to hide the small smile. His hair was a little coarse, but as soft as she remembered. Gently, she began to work her fingers against his scalp, in slow circular motions, working back from his temples and particularly at the back of his neck.

The stiffness in Kol's shoulders eased up immediately when he figured out what was going on and especially at Maggie's coaxing. The apprehensive lines in his forehead and tension melted away after a few moments. Maggie swore she heard a low content rumble from his chest as well.

She was left grinning broadly at how he was relaxing and clearly enjoying the massage. Honestly, it wasn't like she would turn down an opportunity to touch him anyway.

For several minutes, the two sat in silence while Maggie's hands worked. It was nice to spend some time in his company, just the two of them. It reminded Maggie of how much she missed those mornings she woke up next to him, when it was just them between the sheets. When it was just the morning caresses and kisses they traded between whispering smiles.

But now, she was a long way from being able to do that again and there were other things she had to take care of first.

"I've been thinking about what you said," Maggie stated, not stopping in her actions. Kol stilled anyway, he just quirked an eyebrow with the obvious question, without actually opening his eyes. He was enjoying the treatment too much at the moment.

Maggie realized it wasn't what she was referring to, so she just went straight for it. "I'm going to check myself into the hospital after I tell my family about my diagnosis," She promised. It was time to stop being scared and childish about it. Kol and Meredith were right, she had to face this head on while she still could.

Kol didn't say anything, but he did open his eyes to look up at her. Maggie couldn't read anything from the hardened expression.

She felt herself starting to get nervous, so she kept talking to fill the silence.

"I talked to Dr. Fell about it. She said it would take a couple of blood treatments and I would be in there for a week, all said and done. I was just thinking, maybe I shouldn't put it off… Anyway, a week is a long time to be bored and coped up in a hospital room, so I was hoping that maybe," Maggie could feel herself blushing as she finished, "You would come see me?"

"I don't think so," Kol denied without even blinking.

The response came so quickly and firmly it felt like a sucker punch to Maggie. Her hands stopped and she inhaled sharply.

Maggie turned her head away, biting down her cheek harshly.

"It's not you," Kol said, not particularly liking her reaction. He closed his eyes, so he wouldn't have to look at it and added on in a casual tone, "I just don't particularly care for hanging around infected or wounded mortals that I'm not allowed to feed from." What chase was there in that? Hospitals were boring.

"Right," Maggie forced the word out hoarsely, letting trying to keep the moisture away from her eyes. She mentally started reprimand herself for getting the hope up that he would agree to see her.

"But you should be careful," Kol warned her, even though it seemed like Maggie wasn't really listening to him. "Humans do regrettable things when high off vampire blood."

She was busy reminding herself that while this looked and sounded like her Kol, he wasn't. She couldn't hold him to the same standards as her Kol.

Despite himself, Kol found himself frowning up at Maggie and wondering why his answer bothered her so clearly. Maybe there was been more truth than liquor to what she told him that night, he figured.

"How did you get bit?" Kol changed the subject in a quiet, but genuinely curious tone. He had only seen the aftermath, but had no idea what happened to her that day in the hospital. "You never told me."

Maggie took a deep breath. Despite everything that was going on, at the end of the day she still found herself coming back to him. She wanted to pull away and scream when he hurt her, but she didn't. Even the fingers that had just been caressing his head, soothing his pain, refused to move.

"I just had one of those days," Maggie decided to be honest with herself and him for a change. "Where I was just so sick of everything happening and where my life was going. I was so frustrated and angry, tired of feeling weak, and tired of letting all of these emotions consume me."

Her fingers ran absently through his hair, letting out a little of her anxiety while she unloaded on him. Kol remained calmly listening to her, watching the words fall from her lips and the frowns that seemed more pronounced from his angle.

"I just had to let it go somehow, so I grabbed the first knife I could find and slashed up twenty-two walkers at the county line," Maggie glanced down to her forearm, still remembering the gnarly and decomposing creature that had bit into hit. She let out a humorless snort, "I guess I should have stopped at twenty-one."

Whether it felt good to get it off her chest or not, Maggie wasn't sure. But at least it was out there and no longer kept inside.

Several moments went by before she realized Kol hadn't commented on it. She looked down at him and noticed his eyes were shut again, but this time he had a broad smile on his lips.

"What are you smiling about?" Maggie asked almost indignantly.

"Just imagining you taking down all those walkers, darling," Kol replied easily, undeterred by her attitude. He then added on cheekily, but in a tone that touched Maggie somewhere deeper, "I bet it was magnificent."

Maggie tried not to think about how it sounded like something she heard before. She just gave a roll of her eyes at him. Instead, she countered him with another question, "How's it feel?"

"Hmm?" Kol hummed out contently, even after Maggie pulled her hands away from his head. He made no attempt to get up.

"Your headache," Maggie had to remind him, fighting back the grin in the process. "How's it feel?"

Kol opened his eyes before saying softly, "Gone."

Maggie's smile turned into a gasp when Kol stirred in a blur of movement.

He went from his head being in her lap, to almost in her face. Her eyes caught up with him now sitting next to her, one arm draped across the back of the park bench and his other hand reaching up towards her face. He heard the way her heart picked up and saw how she stiffened reflexively, but she didn't back or look away from him.

His fingertips caught a couple locks of hair before slowly tucking them behind her ear. They had fallen in her face when she was leaning over him before. His eyes studied his movements before moving onto her face, following the angle of her jawline and the curve of her cheeks.

"What are you doing?" Maggie questioned, not shying away from his touch but also knowing his demeanor could shift at the snap of a finger.

"Admiring you," Kol answered smoothly, his gaze meeting with those wide green emeralds, laced with flecks of blue and gold if he looked close enough. "Is that a problem?" He added on a smirk.

"No," Maggie replied right away, feeling the swell of hope and other flutters in her chest. She started leaning towards him. This time she wasn't back against a tree, trying to get away from him. This time, she so badly wanted to close the distance between them for something more. Regardless of what time it was, she felt that pull between them.

And she thought maybe Kol felt it too. He leaned closer to her in return.

But at the last moment, his head turned to the side, nearly brushing against her cheek. She remained still while she felt him brush against her cheek and down into the crook of her neck. Kol inhaled deeply and his nose skimmed against her skin before he moved up to whisper in her ear.

"Tell me your name, mala lisicia," He tried to soothe from her.

It was only the digging of her fingers into the shoulders of his jacket did Maggie realize she was grasping onto him. It would be so easy to give into the request. It felt from his lips like honey and promised sweetness.

But she knew he was teasing her and she wasn't going to let him get away with it that easily. Two could play. The smile formed on her lips slowly before answered back in his ear, "Not tonight, hunter."

If there was any disappointment to be had at the rejection, Kol didn't carry it. If anything, it seemed like he almost preferred that answer. The chase would continue for another day.

Instead of pulling away completely, Kol lingered next to her cheek. He licked his bottom lip briefly, the only sign of momentary anxiety before he leaned into her. Maggie closed her eyes at the feel of his lips on her cheek. Her hands loosened up on his jacket before falling. She felt her cheeks glowing red, but it didn't matter while he lingered close.

Somehow, Maggie wasn't surprised, nor completely disappointed when he pulled away and she opened her eyes to find him gone.

* * *

The moment for Maggie to come clean to her family about her health came the following night at dinner. The whole group was gathered around for the meal in the Greene house dining room. The only one missing was Judith, who had just been rocked to sleep by Beth. Otherwise, it was Maggie, Beth, Hershel, Daryl, Carol, Rick and Carl.

The moment came not in the way Maggie was planning or hoped. It came because she had no other choice.

Rick and Hershel were discussing leaving for New Orleans. Maggie hadn't quite figured out where they heard, but they knew there was a much larger colony there.

They wanted to go before dawn.

"We siphoned enough gasoline to get Camry and the pickup there," Rick was going on, mostly looking between Daryl and Hershel for reassurance. "It'll be a tight fit between the two vehicles, but we can manage."

"What about guns?" Daryl grunted out. It was fine and all that they had gas and food, but they weren't going to make it past the walkers with just good intentions.

Most of the dinner conversation had revolved around the question of guns. Maggie didn't contribute a word to the conversation. The entire time she spent staring down at her plate, just pushing the food around. While Rick was describing the Mystic Falls station and how he could get in and out pretty easily, she was trying to decide just how to broach her problem.

Rick was going on about which hour to hit the station, when the fewest officers were around, when Maggie had enough. She couldn't keep it inside any longer.

"We hit it last and get out of town straight away, we should be gone before they know what's missing," Rick reaffirmed, knowing hitting the weapons stash would have to be the very last thing they do because it would raise alerts quickly.

"I'm staying," Maggie blurted out suddenly.

Silence filled the room abruptly.

Maggie looked up to receiving startled and questioning stares from around the table.

"I'm not going," Maggie declared, looking at each member of her group slowly.

"What do you mean you're not going?" Beth was the first to speak up. It was on most of their minds without saying it. If there was anyone in the group they thought would be eager to leave, they thought it would be Maggie after losing Glenn.

"I can't… I'm sick," Maggie announced, looking most apprehensively at her father. She gave a guilty look to Rick, knowing she was now forcing an ultimatum on him. "Tomorrow, I'm going into the hospital to get treatment."

"What kind of sickness are we talking here?" Hershel spoke up, gazing at his eldest daughter with concern. If anything, he was a little offended that she hadn't come to him sooner with this. Yes, he was only a vet, but he and his wife had managed to treat most aliments for their children successfully on their own over the years.

Looking at her father, the rest of the table didn't matter as much. For a brief moment while the tears started to well up in her eyes, Maggie felt like the young lost woman she really was. "That day when I hit my head, the doctors at the hospital ran a blood test," Maggie had to stifle a sniffle before she added on meaningfully, "Daddy, my white blood cell count was high."

There was a scrapping of chair legs against the floor and Beth did what her father wasn't able to do at the time. She wrapped her arms around her older sister while Hershel's expression fell, the normally stoic gentleman unable to hide his reaction.

"What are you saying, Maggie?" Rick had to ask. While he understood that a high white blood cell count could mean many of things and it seemed to have some greater meaning for the Greene family, he wasn't a doctor.

Maggie had her head buried in her sister's shoulder, leaving Hershel to be the one to answer Rick's question. "My Josephine passed away from leukemia, we found out just from a routine blood test," While he had many years to become strong enough to say those words aloud, it still hurt him every time.

Another chair scrapped against the floor and Maggie found herself wrapped up by another pair of arms, this time by Carol. If anything, it only seemed to encourage the tears that she had trying to hold back to fall further.

The rest of that evening wasn't spent talking about escape routes and ammunition, but explaining the experimental treatment and hope.

In the end, Rick decided they stayed together as a group and they would stay for Maggie.

* * *

Maggie shut the door of the Camry behind her as she climbed out. It took several reassurances that she could check herself into the hospital. The rest of her family would come by later once she was settled in and had her first treatment. She just had to do this part on her own, she decided.

Standing in the parking lot of the hospital the following morning, she didn't feel as strong. Seeds of doubt started to blossom in her mind while she started up at the Red Cross logo of the hospital. She had a bag slung over her shoulder with a change of clothes and a few things to keep her occupied, mostly just a book or two. It would be a long several days, she might as well be comfortable.

Taking a deep breath, she reached into her pocket for one more thing that weighed on her mind. The silver cell phone in her hand could have been a ten pound brick instead. She flipped open the screen. It lit up almost tauntingly at her with the ever present question of "Call Elijah?"

Maggie hit the 'yes' button and held it up to her ear. This was probably something she should tell him, she figured, in case he came looking for her at the Greene house.

It felt surreal to hear the ringing through the phone. There were two of them before the call was picked up.

"Maggie?" Elijah's voice came through from the other side.

"Hello, Elijah," Maggie tried to keep her voice even and not show how nervous she was.

He picked up on it anyway, plus the phone was for emergencies. "Are you okay?" He asked swiftly.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maggie replied instinctively, and then stopped her herself. She ran a hand through her hair as she corrected herself, "Actually, not really… I just wanted to call and let you know that I'm going to be in the hospital a few days."

"Are you hurt?" This time she could hear the concern in his tone.

"Not exactly…" Maggie replied before launching into a brief, but painful explanation of why she would be in there.

The whole time while Elijah listened, he felt for her and didn't realize this had been the terminal patient Dr. Fell had been referring to. Now that he heard it and listened to Maggie explain the experimental treatment, there was no doubt in his mind.

After Maggie explained it, there was a lengthy pause on Elijah's side of the conversation. It made Maggie begin to worry and wonder if he was still there. Could bewitched items lose a signal?

"Elijah?" She asked.

"I'm on my way," He responded, snapping out of his thoughts without an inkling of doubt.

"What?" Maggie gasped, having not been expecting that reaction. Maybe a few well wishes at best, she thought. "No, you don't have to do that…" She envisioned him dropping what he was doing and rushing over, that was unnecessary.

"I insist," Elijah persisted firmly. He went on to speak with authority and Maggie had to remind herself who she dealing with. "I won't be able to make it there this morning, but I can this evening at the latest when I return to Mystic Falls."

Naturally, Maggie wanted to ask where he was, but knew it wasn't her business. "Really, Elijah, you don't have to," She went to protest.

"Maggie," Elijah cut across her words in a warning tone.

Maggie's mouth snapped shut quickly, recognizing he was using her first name and it wasn't open for discussion. For a brief moment, she thought about his insistence, and then it occurred to her. Would it really be so awful to have someone who wanted to be there for her? Certainly, Kol had made it abundantly clear he didn't care.

"Okay," Maggie gave in and an incredulous smile crept up on her face. "Thank you, Elijah."

Elijah wrapped the rest of the conversation with a few words of taking care and a more accurate estimate of when he would get there. When Maggie snapped the phone shut, she stared down at it and couldn't help but feel a little relieved.

She tucked the phone away with that new bout of confidence and stepped inside the hospital. In the waiting room, she found the nurse on duty and went straight up to the counter.

"Can I help you?" The nurse asked of her politely.

Maggie shifted the strap of the bag on her shoulder and replied, "Yes, I'm here to see Dr. Fell?"

* * *

Maggie got settled into the extended care wing of the hospital. It was remarkably less stark and depressing than the emergency wing, she decided. There were other patients there too, and the rules were less restrictive. She didn't have to change into the uncomfortable hospital scrubs. Dr. Fell took a sample of her blood before they started the treatment and proceeded with a routine health checkup. She was amazed to see no lasting scar of any sort from the walker bite.

Her family arrived shortly after she had the first treatment. Maggie found out there would be four days of heavy blood treatments and the remaining three would be a precaution to make sure all of it passed out of her system before she released. When Maggie asked why it was more than twenty-four hours, Dr. Fell said due to the age of the vampire and the amount of blood involved, they just wanted to be cautious.

Beth and Carol spent the most time with her while Hershel provided his support too. Maggie was grateful to have any visitors, truthfully. It distracted her from the foreign blood coursing through her veins. One of the first things she did was draw the blinds in her room. Of course, Dr. Fell claimed there would be minimal side effects, but she didn't know just how unique Maggie was.

After her family left, one of the nurses introduced her to the leisure room that Maggie was welcomed to use between treatments. It was a small lounge, but Maggie appreciated it more than her hospital bed. There were a few shelves with books and DVDs, which went with the tube TV in the corner of the room. A couple of other patients were seen drifting in and out of the room.

True to his word, Elijah arrived that evening. Maggie thought he would spend a few minutes at most, just to see how she was doing, but he actually stayed the better part of an hour. Once they began talking, she didn't find herself stopping. He told her briefly about where he had been traveling, some part in New Jersey. He didn't tell her why, but explained what the state of things there was. It wasn't until Beth showed up with some food for dinner did Elijah leave with a promise of being back to see her. He didn't comment on the odd look that Beth gave Elijah and Maggie.

Maggie had a steady stream of visitors during her stay. It wasn't just her family that came, but word must have gotten around, because Jeremy and Matt showed up on the second day. Even Alaric with a quiet Elena following his footsteps stopped by for a few minutes. Maggie didn't say much to Elena, but appreciated seeing Alaric.

There was just one vampire Maggie wished would show up, but didn't.

So instead, she found herself focusing on the one that did. To her surprise, Elijah came by again the next day. This time he found her in the leisure room, picking through the selection of books. He patiently in a bemused manner listened to Maggie rip into the eclectic selection of the books, which was mostly nonfiction and children books with little in between. It led to a long discussion between them about Maggie's reading hobby, the things she wanted to see, and the parts of the world she wished she could see. She didn't bother telling him it the most recent reading had been during her transition.

What she again thought would be a simple visit ended up being several hours while Maggie found herself sitting on the sofa, listening to Elijah's stories of his travels through Western Europe. It was soothing way to spend her time, she decided. She would sit on the sofa, wrapping around a pillow tucked under her chin while Elijah sat across from her. She watched the way he gestured absentmindedly with his hand as he spoke. The way his eyes gleamed when speaking about something he particularly felt passionate about. She noticed the way his tongue darted out to lick his bottom lip, his mouth probably going dry from talking so much. She noticed the way his lips curved up with amusement when he told a sly, but subtle joke.

It was after the second day of treatment Maggie realized that Dr. Fell severely underestimated the idea of side effects. Maggie reported just the sensitivity to light, since it was hard to hide her darting away from sunlight in the hallways and the leisure room, but there was much more.

Maggie found herself having trouble focusing. Her thoughts would wander away from her into a haze. At times, she found herself flushed, almost sweating, even though they kept the building rather cool. The most obvious was that she could find herself smiling one moment and then almost in tears the next. The simplest of thoughts would bring them clouding her vision. The just thought of Glenn and the guilt she felt sent her crying for an hour.

It was like the carefully constructed walls of strength melted away with each drop of vampire blood that entered her system. She got tired and irritable from having the needles in her arms, siphoning out and siphoning in different blood. It made her jumpy and edgy from all the pent up energy, but sometimes she just didn't want to get out of her bed either. She found herself scratching at her shoulder, by the end of the day it was raw and red with irritation.

She didn't know what she wanted or what she was feeling. Maggie was having a bout of this nervous energy when Elijah caught up with her in the leisure room on the third day.

"Maggie, what is it?" Elijah asked out of concern when he spotted the doppelganger standing in front of the book shelves. She was shuffling the books in and out of slots, in a frantic but determined manner.

"It's these damn books," Maggie snapped out, not looking up from her hands. Elijah was more concerned with the slight sniffle in her tone than the books. "How is anyone supposed to find anything in here? You can't, not when you have _1948_ mixed with _Peter Pan_ and _Cinderella _and then the_ Jungle Book_, not to be confused with _The Jungle_ –" Maggie stopped mid tirade by Elijah placing his hand over hers, stopping her from picking any more books.

"What is really bothering you, Maggie?" Elijah asked of her gently, seeing the book reorganizing for the façade that it was.

Maggie took a deep breath, staring at her hands, covered by his, but didn't look up at him. She shook her head. "I'm a mess," She declared in a dejected tone.

"No, you're not," Elijah denied. "You're just going through a difficult time right now."

"I mean it," Maggie protested. She looked at him with a bitter smile, her eyes shining just a little more than normal. "I'm a mess most days, Elijah. Dying the next and going insane the others."

Elijah sighed deeply at that. He didn't know what to say to sooth the demons this woman was facing. All he did know that was she genuinely believed what she was saying. It left him just giving her hands a reassuring squeeze before dropping his.

"I brought you something," He tried to change the subject. It was then Maggie noticed the book tucked under his arm. It was leather bounded and remarkably aged. Maggie couldn't hazard a guess at just how old it was.

She didn't have to, Elijah pulled out and showed it to her. The cover was just a faded brown color with a set of simple numbers burned into the hide. It read _1811-1814_.

"What is this?" Maggie asked as she delicately took it in her hands. It was heavier than she expected, the parchment was thicker than the quality of paper she was used to.

"It's one of my journals," Elijah explained, earning a stunned look from Maggie. "From when I was traveling through Europe with my siblings at the time. Yesterday, you mentioned 1812 and wanting to learn more about it…"

As Elijah spoke, Maggie naturally flipped through some of the pages. It was page after page of his neat, but elegant handwriting. Amongst the pages were even sketches, the colors were so pristine they had to have been preserved by a witch's spell.

"You remembered," Maggie was touched for many reasons. He remembered that she said she enjoyed reading, especially about faraway places she had dreamed about seeing one day. This allowed her to have a little glimpse inside his travels and his world, to learn something deeper and a little more personal about him. At the same time, he didn't know why she was so interested in 1812 was because of a story she had heard on a road trip to Georgia before.

Elijah smiled naturally at her reaction, at least until she started to cry again.

Maggie caught the first tear before it fell again. "Damnit, there I go again," She gave an incredulous huff. She moved to set the journal down on the coffee table by the sofa to keep herself from dropping it. She used both hands to wipe away the tears while Elijah followed after her hesitantly.

"I feel like all I do is cry lately," Maggie huffed out, answering the unspoken question. She cried over the people she lost, the relationships that were gone because of her dying, and the constant lies she had to keep.

"There's nothing weak about crying, Maggie," Elijah tried to reassure her, even when she half turned away to hide some of those tears. "It reminds us that we're human, that we feel pain, that we care and that we're still alive." He wanted to reach out to touch her shoulder, to comfort her, but he stopped at the irritated rash on her skin. He would have to ask her about that later.

Maggie took a deep inhale and nodded to his words. Maybe he was right, but there was at least one truth she had to straighten out. Even the little lies were starting to eat at her.

"Remember when I told you why I like to read so much, to escape to places I've never been because it allowed me a chance to see the world I thought I would never see?" Maggie asked, recalling how she had sounded so optimistic when she told Elijah that the other day.

Elijah nodded solemnly for her to continue.

"That wasn't true," Maggie said before shaking her head. "It was at one point, but not anymore. I used to dream of getting out of Georgia." She gestured towards the journal on the table. "But now, I read about things like Borodino to remind myself that there are things in the world that are more fucked up than what I'm going through."

"I mean, how is sick that?" Maggie only paused to wipe a few tears away from her eyes before continuing on. "What kind of person does that make me?"

Elijah bore a grave, but sympathetic expression. He murmured one simple response, "Human. It makes you human."

While Maggie appreciated that Elijah was putting up with her emotional outburst, she didn't believe him. Her shoulders sagged as she shook her head, letting her gaze drop in shame. She turned slowly to face him before admitting in a frank, but ashamed tone, "You should have met me before the outbreak. You would have liked the person I was then."

She wasn't the same young college girl, the one that had no direction but wanted to go in every direction. She would have sat for hours, listening to Elijah's story after story. She would have been captivated by this mysterious man in a suit. She would have enjoyed his company undivided and maybe he would have enjoyed her. She wasn't fractured and broken.

"I admire you now," Elijah corrected her in a gentle voice. Maggie looked up at him surprise.

She didn't know what to say at that declaration. Maybe she should have saw it coming, but her mind went blank at the sincere and warm way Elijah looked at her.

"I admire who you are now," Elijah reaffirmed, causing Maggie to look down at the ground from the intensity of his words. A pair of fingers caught her chin and gently coaxed her to look back up at him as he took a step closer to her. "I admire you for the way you let your pain show, I admire that you hurt so greatly because you love fiercely. I admire the loyalty to your family and I admire your strength to be here now. I admire _you._"

A little voice in the back of her head knew this was crossing the line. This went past the respectful distance between them and Maggie knew it. But she found herself listening to each word, because just for one moment, it felt good to hear someone who saw past her being a patient or a doppelganger.

In the way that he was looking at her, he was really looking at her. And his words were true, with each moment he spent with Maggie, he saw a little bit of himself in her. He saw the young woman that wept for the loss of a lover and struggled to do what was right in the name of family.

Maggie knew he was too close when she felt his breath on her lips. She had watched those lips move with each whisper he gave her. That hand that held her chin kept her up, but didn't keep her from backing away. The last thing she saw was the dark brown of his eyes before she felt his lips on hers.

She inhaled sharply, her body stiffening, but as not as much as normal because she was emotionally exhausted. Maybe she should push him away, she vaguely thought, but his lips were soft and gentle. His hand caressed her cheek like if she was about break into a million pieces.

And for just one moment, she wanted something that made her feel good.

Maggie's lips moved against his slowly at first. The feel and the sensation were more divine than she was expecting. It left her wanting more and she had to have it now. Being so close to him was enough to intoxicate her by the scent of him as well. The hands that went up against his chest, originally to slow him down, were now clutching onto his jacket as the kiss became firmer and more confident. A hand caught her hip.

But her hands didn't make up to his hair, to knot on the back of his head in her favorite way. Nor did she have to roll up onto her toes to match his height. In fact, she didn't get much time to dwell on how different this was from the person she did dream of kissing before a searing pain ripped through her shoulder.

Maggie gasped and pulled away from Elijah abruptly.

"Maggie?" Elijah questioned at her change in reaction, his eyes snapping open.

Her hand shot over to her right shoulder immediately as she let out a cry of pain. She half turned to get a look at what was going so horribly wrong.

Elijah voiced first what they both saw, "My god, you're bleeding." It was just a little bit either. It was hard to see just how she got hurt because of all the blood oozing out of her shoulder.

Maggie didn't even look up while Elijah called out for help and a nurse. She was staring in horror at the flesh that had been ripped open in a matter of a moment, but by what? The pain was so hot and burning, like a scorching knife was being dragged across her skin. Before she could get far, she was surrounded by two nurses while another got a wheelchair.

She was surrounded in a barrage of voices, some asking what happened while the others stemmed the flow of blood by putting pressure on the wound. The pressure caused Maggie to let out a cry. Just before she was wheeled out of the leisure room, she caught a glimpse of Elijah, doing his best to keep his distance but obviously concerned.

The horror truly settled on her then. Not only had Elijah kissed her, but she actually kissed him back.

* * *

Twenty-one stitches. It seemed rather ironic now that she had twenty-one candles in the window sill in front of her, an assortment of different sizes and shapes. It was an arbitrary number, just like the amount of candles was all that she could come up with. But that's how many stitches it took to close up the crescent shaped wound on her shoulder.

Of course, the doctors offered to heal it immediately with more vampire blood. But Maggie refused, in fact, she refused all further treatments of vampire blood. It was only the next night did her head start to feel a little clearer. She felt like a fool, she should have listened to that warning a little more closely because she figured that's what must have clouded her judgment so badly.

And maybe she needed this scar on her shoulder to remind herself of who she was, or it just had a deeper meaning for her.

Either way, it was late in the evening and she stood in the deserted leisure room by herself, save for the one attendant. By request, she got a couple of candles together and she had them lined up in one of the windows. Because of the glow of the flames, she only saw her reflection back in the glass.

She barely recognized the woman that stared back at her anymore. Her stomach twisted with guilt and shame.

She didn't know who she was anymore. She had become someone that made shady deals with Mikael while kissing Elijah.

A vibrating resonating off of the window sill caused Maggie to look down from her task of lighting each candle. The cell phone inched across the wood while it begged to be answered. She saw Elijah's name across the display, but she just let it go to voicemail for the fourth time.

Those same dark features she saw in the reflection of the glass when she looked back up, the angular jawline, dark brow line, and the slight dimple in his chin.

"What are the candles for?" He asked, his accent thick in the silence of the room.

Maggie took the time to finish the lighting the last candle before answering him, "It's my birthday." While it wasn't the day she had been born, she had figured out it was on this day in the past life that Klaus had chased her off the waterfall and she became a vampire. She was reborn on this night.

She wanted twenty-two candles for her human years and one more of the vampire life that was beginning, but this was the best the nurses could do.

"I'm surprised you're not at the Grill with the others," Maggie commented lightly, knowing there was quite the drink up going at the Grill. Hopefully it didn't explode into destruction since she wasn't there. She also knew that was part of the reason why the hospital was so quiet tonight.

He just shrugged from behind her. "I didn't particularly care for the company," He said honestly. He had been in a remorse mood all day long and couldn't bring himself to be interested in the festivities.

He stared at the solemn expression of Maggie through the reflection off the glass for several moments. Her head hung, staring down at the candles and the cell phone. Her features seemed more saddened than usual, especially with the shadows of the night sprawled across them.

"Besides," He then decided to add on with a faint smirk, trying to coax a better reaction out of her, "I heard that you missed me."

Maggie perked up, her eyes meeting his briefly through the glass. What sounded maybe like a cocky, overconfident remark to other people, had a greater meaning to her.

She smiled at Kol Mikaelson.

* * *

_Author's Note: So who's got some Kolie feels? Maybe even some Malijah ones? _

_Anyway, now we got a history lesson from Ayana. What do you guys think of that plot twist? How well does it match up with the show? I will admit some details from the show I will alter in ER, just because I thought of them before the truth was revealed and it just won't work with what I got now. But anyway, now we got some history on the mating bond. I want to hear how that may or may not change your theories. _

_The last two chapters have been low in review responses, I just want to remind everyone that reviews are a huge motivator for me. I read and reread them several times because it reminds me that someone appreciates the hours of writing I put into these chapters. So please spare a few minutes to leave some feedback._

_Next chapter is going to be heavy Kolie. Brace yourself._

_Review responses –_

_M: Haha so how does Ayana rank in your listing of creeping ghosts? At least Anna is fairly harmless and I thought a cute way for Jeremy to figure out Maggie's gift. _

_Sadly, Rebekah didn't make the cut for this chapter. I actually had to eliminate some scenes, but she'll make an appearance later. Anyway, I'll be anxiously waiting your barrage of feels when you read this chapter. ;D_

_Kellie: Well, Mikael is definitely using Maggie to get what he wants – Klaus dead. So as long as she cooperates, she's okay for now, but we'll see what happens. I'm glad it was worth the wait and I hope you enjoy this chapter just as much, if not more! Thank you so much!_

_aSprightlySoar: Awesome job on catching the V for Vendetta reference! It does relate to my penname, but it also relates to the night Maggie told Kol that she picked him over Damon. And for a double reference, the line of dialogue from Maggie about the movie is a reference to the Count of Monte Crisco when Eve says something very similar in V for Vendetta. _

_L: I hope you don't hate me that Elijah clearly crossed the line of being friends haha! But I'm glad you love the Kolie and I hope some of this makes up for it. Thank you so much!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

**[Warning: The following chapter may not be suitable for all readers due to sexual content.]**

_Chapter Songs:_

_Rihanna ft. Mikky Ekko - Stay_

_Scene: Kol and Maggie at the hospital_

_Imagine Dragons – Demons_

_Scene: Kol and Maggie in the Mikaelson driveway_

_Finger Eleven – Paralyzer_

_Scene: Kol and Maggie in Lucy's kitchen_

_Chapter Eight_

"Besides," He then decided to add on with a faint smirk, trying to coax a better reaction out of her, "I heard that you missed me."

Maggie perked up, her eyes meeting his briefly through the glass. What sounded maybe like a cocky, overconfident remark to other people had a greater meaning to her.

She smiled at Kol Mikaelson.

* * *

"Kol," Maggie sighed out and set the matches down on the window sill. She turned and crossed the distance between them in the blink of an eye.

Kol raised his hands almost defensively and he let out a small grunt from her actions. Maggie had her arms wrapped around him and her face buried into his neck before he could even consider telling her to stop.

His shoulders eased back after a moment while Maggie clutched to him tightly. With less reluctance than last time, he gently wrapped arms around her waist in return.

"You're turning this hugging thing into a habit, aren't you?" Kol teased lightly, partly to gloss over the fact he was quietly hugging her back.

Maggie let out a short laugh and tucked her chin against his shoulder. "If it's an option," She replied only half seriously.

Kol inhaled deeply while he held her, but then wrinkled his nose. She didn't smell the same. In fact, she reeked of his brother. "How much blood did they give you?" He inquired indignantly.

"I'm not sure," Maggie said honestly, it was kind of a blur of needles and blood bags with all the transfusions now that she thought about it. "At least a couple of pints. Why?"

Kol frowned, that was entirely too much in his opinion.

Kol didn't answer her because he was distracted by something else. Instead, he was more interested in Maggie's shoulder. "What happened here?" He asked, his hand to rose up from her back to brush over it lightly.

Maggie let out a hiss between her teeth. "_That'_s still tender," She answered quickly. She shied away from him, but Kol already had a grasp on her upper arm and stepped around to get a proper look at the new wound.

Kol frowned as he inspected the black stitches that ran in a half circle. The wound was red and inflamed. It wasn't exactly a clean line, it had a distinctive jaggedness to it.

"How did this happen?" Kol reiterated his voice a little more forceful.

"I don't know," Maggie said defensively before sighing. Maybe it was better she had her back to him while he looked at it. He didn't see the way her expression twisted from the agony of the situation. "I was talking to Elijah earlier…" Her voice trailed, unable to say what happened after that. "It just did."

Kol's lips were set in a thin line from the unsatisfactory answer. It didn't take a clairvoyant to know there was more to it.

"And this rash?" Kol decided to move on, his eyes zeroing in on the area around the stitches. The more he stared at her shoulder, the more he realized it wasn't just a laceration. The skin around it was equally irritated; there were some streaks, like the dragging of finger nails. More notably was the slight bubbling of the skin.

He had seen this before.

"It comes and goes," Maggie replied thoughtlessly with a half shrug. Kol loosened up her grip on her arm. "It only flares up when I'm in the hospital…" Her voice trailed as she realized that was peculiar in itself.

"And the vampire blood didn't heal this?" Kol wondered aloud, not willing to admit it was Elijah's blood. That thought still didn't sit right with him.

That question caused Maggie to stop and turn to look at Kol. Now that she thought about it, she always had the rash at the hospital, even when she had vampire blood. If anything, the more she had, the more it itched. But there was one very obvious reason for why the gash wasn't healed up.

"I refused to take any more," Maggie admitted. She started to shake her head and had trouble looking him in the eye as she thought back to what happened. "Oh god, you were right, Kol. Taking the blood was a mistake," She felt the tears threatening to water up again. "I don't know what came over me. I wasn't thinking, it was like I couldn't think –"

Maggie's panic was stopped short by the finger over her lips. She stared down briefly at Kol's hand before matching his gaze, stunned.

Kol leaned forward, almost as if he was trying to compel her and told her, "Whatever it is that you said or did… that was _not you_. Having that much vampire blood makes you do things you wouldn't normally do. Okay?" Only when he finished speaking did he pull his finger away from her lips.

"Okay…" Maggie choked back, almost in an awed tone at how understanding he was being and the out he was giving her. It was because of that she felt even guiltier. There was no way he remembered her or he wouldn't have been this calm about it.

The problem wasn't that he didn't remember her though. It was that she_ did_ remember him and she still kissed Elijah.

Kol frowned, studying her expression and seeing that she was still upset. Just as long as she didn't start crying… unexplainably emotional women always made him a little uncomfortable.

"Come here," He urged, trying a different tactic. He took Maggie by the hand and led her over to the sofa by the television.

The attending nurse gave them a discreet look of worry from the corner of her eye from across the room, but left them alone. It wasn't exactly visiting hours. However, she wasn't going to get demanding with the Original, especially while being the only one on duty.

Kol urged Maggie to sit down on the sofa, taking the spot next to her. She didn't know what he was up to when he told her turn in her seat so her back was to him. "What are you going to do?" She asked.

"Just trust me," Kol said from behind her.

Maggie bit her lip, "Okay." She didn't have the heart to tell him that she already did.

"Hold still," He ordered gently while his hands grasped her shoulders to make sure she did just that.

She felt the heat of his breath before the feel of his mouth. There was a tug against her skin and then Maggie hissed from discomfort. It hurt, but it wasn't unbearable. She tried to turn her head, to see what he was doing exactly, but the angle was almost impossible without moving.

She expected the pain to be sharper, but it was never met by open air. Kol kept his mouth over the wound. She didn't see the way he bit into his own lower lip, but she caught of a whiff of the coppery scent.

Maggie stiffened immediately. Blood in open air. That was the one she had been desperately avoiding during her stay. The vampire blood didn't have the same temptation to her just in a blood bag, not taunting her senses.

Maggie held her breath while Kol continued to do whatever it was he was doing. She slammed her eyes shut and mentally urged for the black veins to stop moving under her eyes. She could feel the skin quivering.

Instead she tried to focus on figuring out what he was doing. She felt the tug and pull on her skin, it wasn't necessarily painful, but definitely unpleasant, like a crawling and unnatural feeling. There were brief twinges of pain here and there. She felt the occasional pressure. As the minutes dragged on between them, she felt the difference between his tongue and his lips. Her shoulder was hot and moist.

Her hands were tight locked fists by the end, having remained tense throughout the entire thing. It felt like Maggie let out the first breath of relief when Kol finally pulled away from her shoulder. The muscles in her neck ached from how tense she was.

"Here," Kol offered, muttering from the corner of his mouth while he reached up to pull something out of it.

Maggie held her hand out hesitantly. She frowned at the object he placed in her palm; a long black string with a knot tied on the end.

What the hell?

Maggie gave a gasp. It was the string from her stitches. But she wasn't in pain. "You healed it?" She exclaimed and twisted her body as much as she could to see the wound.

Kol half shrugged, "Not completely, it'll still leave a scar. But it'll do…" His fingers brushed over her shoulder again, this time pink new flesh had closed up the wound. It was still rough and gnarly for all the delicate work of pulling out the stitches with his teeth and pushing a little bit of his blood with his tongue into the wound it took.

His gaze moved up to see Maggie wasn't look at her shoulder, but him.

"It's perfect," Maggie whispered sincerely with a small smile. She shifted in her seat to turn and face him fully.

Kol's lips flickered up briefly in a grin before being subdued by the way she looked at him.

"Happy birthday, darling," He wished her instead.

His tone sounded final and Maggie knew with the way he withdrew his hands he was about to leave. Kol rose to his feet swiftly. Her hand shot out to his wrist to stop him.

"Please, stay…" She requested. "Just for a little while?"

Kol frowned, taken back. Instead of immediately answering her, he glanced around them. It wasn't like there was anyone to see them here. His brow scrunched up in distaste at the dismal, poorly lit room. "What is someone supposed to do to entertain themselves here?" He countered incredulously. What was the incentive to stay?

"Um," Maggie stammered a bit, also noticing he hadn't yanked his wrist out of her hand yet. She glanced towards the television. "We could watch a movie?" She suggested lamely.

Kol glanced towards the small stack of DVDs. For how simple it was, it did actually peak his interest. That was something he normally did alone with little suggestion or guidance and he was left confused by a lot things, thanks to being daggered for so long.

Kol did end up staying. He let Maggie pick out the movie, it was mostly Disney and Pixar films for the children in the hospital. He found that she was willing to put up his numerous questions and curiosity. She didn't seem get agitated, no matter how many times he spoke while it played. He told himself it was because of that reason he didn't say anything when Maggie leaned towards him while talking to lean her head against his shoulder and her arms wrapped around him loosely.

It didn't take long for Kol to lie back on the couch, propped up by a pillow and the armrest. He didn't say anything about the way Maggie laid next to him with her head on his shoulder. At first she put her hand on his chest, but his hand quickly redirected it a little lower. For a moment, she swore she heard him wince, but she didn't comment on it. She knew if she did, the hand on her waist would disappear, along with the one that remained clasped over hers.

Kol knew she fell asleep before the credits started rolling, but only then did he tear his eyes away from the screen. The glow of the blank screen remained for a long time while Kol lay there, thinking about the little human sprawled half on top of him. At least she was finally getting some rest, he mused, she looked like she hadn't had any weeks. He thought about how he came to spend his evening, instead of drinking himself to numbness at the Grill.

What was he supposed to do with her now?

* * *

Maggie slept through most of the next day. It was the longest she slept in a while… and in a hospital, no less. When she came around back in her patient room, she felt the weight of the covers on her, more than usual. Bleary eyed, she thought Dr. Fell had brought her some extra blankets and made sure she got back to her bed the previous night.

At least, she thought that until she felt the material was too coarse to be a blanket and oddly shaped. It also wasn't the sterile white color of the hospital fabrics, but black and thick. It was tucked around her, up to her shoulders. One inhale of the material brought a smile to her face and she clutched it close.

Kol's jacket.

She had a feeling he was the reason why she slept so soundly too. The remaining two days in the hospital weren't as bad as she thought they would be. Elijah still weighed heavily on her mind and the phone stopped ringing after a while. Maggie distracted herself with her father and her sister visiting her.

It wasn't too long before Maggie became less aware of being able to heart beats of the humans around her. Eventually, her vision and sense of smell dulled back to the human level it was supposed to be when she didn't have vampire blood in her system. She was relieved to be able to touch the sun again without it burning her skin.

Maggie went back to the Greene house after her hospital stay. Before she left, Meredith took a final blood sample and she would have to wait a few days while that processed. The Atlanta group's preparations for leaving were left at uncertain halt. Maggie could sense that Carl and Beth were reluctant to leave, especially since they enjoyed doing something normal like going to school. The general agreement was that they would see what happened next with Maggie's treatment before making any decisions.

Maggie busied herself with working at the Grill as much as possible. The problem with telling everyone about her condition was the looks she got from the other members of her group. It did change the way they looked at her. She was dying, sooner than the rest of them and they clearly walked on egg shells around her. She couldn't stand it.

The day after she got out of the hospital, she worked at the Grill with Jeremy. He took the time to show her a few pointers on how to deal with the ghosts for which Maggie was grateful for. Maggie wore Kol's jacket as much as she could, partly for the comfort it brought but also to hide the scar on her shoulder as much as possible. She at least got Dr. Fell to agree to not tell her family about the incident.

It was dismal morning when Maggie went to the Grill to work. The clouds overhead were thick and the first drops of rain were starting to fall when she reached the front doors of the diner. Before stepping inside, she stopped at the sound of sirens in the distance. Curiously, she waited while they got closer and louder.

Two police cruisers cut through the downtown area, lights blaring in the morning air. They didn't slow down in the slightest as they sped past the Grill and continued on towards a different part of Mystic Falls.

Maggie frowned slightly, but shrugged it off before going inside to catch up with Matt and set to work.

It was late in the afternoon when her shift was over, but Maggie remained by the bar counter while Jeremy came in to take over for the rest of the day. The reason Maggie hung around afterwards was the arrival of Dr. Fell, still in hospital scrubs with bag on her shoulder.

"Hey, Maggie," Meredith greeted her while sliding onto one of the bar stools. The two hung at the far end of the bar. "How are you feeling?"

Maggie half shrugged. "I'm coping," She answered vaguely. In truth, she was still constantly tired, having trouble with eating and because of those having the occasional dizzy spell.

Meredith gave a sympathetic look before reaching into her bag and pulling out a file. "I got the results of your blood test," Meredith announced.

Maggie nodded, bracing her hands against the counter. She knew the real reason why Meredith wanted to come by and see her.

"And?" Maggie urged, keeping her voice down.

Meredith flipped open the file. She paged through the papers for a few painstaking moments before stopping. The doctor let out a sigh and set her lips in a grim thin line.

She looked up at Maggie and shook her head.

In light of her conversation with Meredith, Maggie hung around the Grill longer instead of going back to the Greene house. To her surprise, the doctor opted to stay with her and it wasn't long before Maggie poured out whiskey for them. She found out why Meredith hung around when Alaric showed up a little while later.

The three adults were sitting at the bar counter with tumblers in hand when Damon Salvatore walked into the Grill.

"Ric!" Damon called out to him. The school teacher let out a slight groan and looked over at the leather clad vampire approaching them.

"Damon," He raised his glass with little energy in his direction.

"Seriously?" Damon whined incredulously, his eyes passing over the adults. "You ditched me to hang out with Mad Maggie and Meredith?"

"Mad Maggie?" The doppelganger objected, turning in her seat at actually look at Damon.

Alaric leaned towards Maggie to answer her, "You did put a knife to his throat." Damon's eyebrows rose in agreement with his statement, almost in a challenging nature.

Maggie paused and mumbled before taking a sip of her drink, "Point."

Only then did Alaric turn to Damon, setting his glass down on the counter.

"You're right, Damon," Alaric declared, leaning his elbows back against the counter. "I opted to not sit around the boardinghouse with you looking at the Salvatore milling logs and instead choose to have a drink with these two gorgeous women." He looked to Meredith and Maggie sitting on either side of him, earning a smirk from each.

"What could possibly be wrong with me?" He asked with an innocent smile.

Maggie grinned at Alaric's teasing and the peeved expression on Damon's face. She didn't listen to his response though, because her attention was stolen by the blonde that walked through the Grill doors after that. She had a brown bag in her hand and an impatient hand on her hip. Her gaze met Maggie's and gave a pointed nod towards one of the booths.

Maggie mumbled an excusal from the group and followed Rebekah over to one of the far booths.

"I brought you lunch," Rebekah declared without a greeting, holding up the brown bag.

"Really?" Maggie was surprised as she sat down across from Rebekah. The Original offered the bag out to her.

"It's better than the mush they serve here," Rebekah half shrugged. Maggie ignored the fact she helped cook said mush while she opened up the bag.

Rebekah then added on, "Besides, Kol was right, you are a half starved little thing."

And there is it, the attitude that amused Maggie. She raised an eyebrow at the sandwich she pulled out, an apple and some sort of Powerade mix drink. Her stomach was still knotted up, but she wasn't going to refuse to eat in front of the Original.

"Wait, did Kol make this?" Maggie asked while cracking open the bottle.

"God no, I did," Rebekah scoffed. "He's a disaster in the kitchen." Maggie smirked at her reaction before taking a sip of the juice.

"Yesterday, I caught him about to put his hand in a food processor trying to figure out what it was for," Rebekah rolled her eyes at her brother's ignorance to modern technology.

Maggie choked on her drink. She had to cover her mouth to keep from spitting it out before she forcefully swallowed. "Is he okay?"

"Unfortunately," Rebekah sighed out while inspecting her fingernails. "Although it would have been fun to watch him try to put his fingers back together."

Maggie shook her head and took a bite of the sandwich. The two talked for a while as Maggie ate and Rebekah dominated the conversation. She recognized the gesture for what it was; Rebekah was looking for having a friend to talk to. The doppelganger patiently listened to her latest disgruntlements with Elena and she blamed the Petrova for being the reason why Matt still won't give her the time of day.

Maggie had the trash balled up into the brown bag when the two were interrupted by Damon. The vampire unceremoniously helped himself to a seat by sliding next to Maggie. The doppelganger let out a groan at the way she was forced to move over and Damon draped an arm across the back of her seat.

"I hope you're not over here getting brainwashed by Evil Barbie's wicked ways," Damon chimed in with a smirk.

"Ugh, what do you want, Damon?" Rebekah snapped out in irritation.

The Salvatore shrugged his shoulders, ignoring the cold death glare he was getting from Maggie. "Just making sure you're not holding Maggie under duress," He replied with a cheeky grin.

Rebekah snorted at the audacity of that coming from Damon of all people.

"I'm fine, Damon," Maggie spoke up, hissing between her teeth.

He turned to her and surprised Maggie by asking in a lower, actually genuine tone, "Are you sure?"

Maggie gave a firm nod, easing up some of her harshness. "Positive," She replied.

Damon regarded her a moment, waiting to see if there was any doubt before saying, "Good." Then his eyes flickered down to his lap and added on, "Will you take that knife off my balls now?"

Rebekah's eyes widened and she rose up in her seat a bit, trying to see what he was talking about. The moment Damon sat down in the booth, Maggie's hand went to the hunting knife on her belt and the blade was now pressed against the jean of his crotch.

"Only after you move your arm," Maggie countered without blinking. She didn't like the way he leaned over her like a girlfriend.

Damon obliged reluctantly and only then did Maggie pull the hunting knife away from him to slip it back into her belt. She heard a relieved sigh from him and the vampire kept a very pointed few inches between them.

Rebekah sank back in her seat with a slightly disappointed expression.

"Sorry," Maggie muttered unsympathetically. "Habit."

Damon gave her an odd look, wondering what the hell kind of habit that was.

"Right…" Damon muttered dryly before glancing back to Rebekah. "As much as I enjoy your _charming _personalities, I did actually have reason for coming over here." His eyes flickered briefly between the women, trying to size up which one was actually more dangerous.

"And what is that?" Rebekah grew impatient.

"Those construction workers that were killed this morning," Damon said leadingly. Maggie could see Rebekah lose interest almost immediately.

The Original just folded her arms over her chest while Damon went on to say with a slight roll of his own eyes, "The Council seems to think I can talk you into getting your darling brother to stop. So just humor me for a few minutes so it looks like I actually put an honest effort into it finding out why he did it."

Maggie's brows furrowed at this new information. "Wait, Kol killed someone?" She wondered aloud, finding a hard time believing there was a chance he was referring to Elijah.

Damon gave her almost 'Duh' expression. "Who else would?" He countered in an obvious tone.

Rebekah threw a hand up in the air. "How would I know why?" She shook her head with little actual interest in the matter. "He's probably just acting out because Nik isn't around to threaten him with a dagger."

Maggie frowned at the superficial logic while Damon inclined his head a little, seeming satisfied by it.

"Hmm, works for me," Damon just shrugged. It wasn't like he actually cared about these humanitarian problems the Council did. He just got voted the one to talk to Rebekah because he was the only one that would bounce back after getting his neck snapped.

Damon rose out of his seat, just as eager to get out of there as the women were eager to get rid of them. Before he left though, he stopped and looked Maggie up and down meaningfully before saying, "Nice jacket, by the way."

Maggie let out a sigh and covered her eyes with her hand, leaning against her elbow on the table.

* * *

The rain started to pick up by the time Maggie left the Grill. She squinted up at the sky with a frown. It wasn't a smothering blanket of rain, but she would definitely be soaked by the time she got to the house. She tugged Kol's jacket around her frame and started the long march there.

Because of the rain, she kept her head down most of the time with her hands buried in the pockets. She was about half way there when she didn't noticed the black SUV approaching until slowed down right beside her. She squinted at the glare of the glass until the window rolled down.

"I see you're putting my jacket to good use," Kol's voice teased her lightly, the Original leaned out the window to talk to her with one hand on the steering wheel. He looked rather at ease for someone being daggered before ever sitting behind a steering wheel.

Maggie slowed to a stop and so did the vehicle. "You left it behind," She pointed out with a grin. It would be shame if she didn't use it, right?

"That's only because you wouldn't let it go," Kol smirked back at her. "Quite literally, I might add, you had quite the death grip on it, even in your sleep." He curled his hand in front of him for emphasis. He had to pry the jacket out of her fingers before he was able to tuck it around her in the hospital. "It was truly impressive."

Maggie rolled her eyes at his joking with a broad smile anyway. "I'm not giving it back," She taunted.

He half shrugged before saying effortlessly, "Keep it. It looks better on you."

She shook her head with a blush on her cheeks before they fell silent, watching each other with a hint of amusement in their eyes. There were many things she wanted to ask him about, why he had killed those people, or why he had stayed. But at the same time, she just wanted to _be _with him.

The grin faded off of Kol's face slowly before he asked, "Are you going to answer that?" His eyes flickered down to her pocket.

"Huh?" Maggie stirred out of her thoughts and reached into her pocket to find the vibrating cell phone. She stopped, seeing Elijah's name on the display and let out a sigh. "I really should…" She murmured. She had put it off long enough.

Kol just nodded, quietly slipping the SUV into park to wait for her while she flipped open the device.

"Elijah?" Maggie answered uncertainly holding the phone to ear.

"Maggie," His voice seemed a little surprised and relieved that she answered before he spoke quickly, "Are you okay? I've been trying to reach you…"

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maggie said quickly, she half turned away from Kol to talk, even though she knew he could hear every word they said.

There was a pause on Elijah's side and she could practically imagine him trying to read how much truth there was in her tone.

"Listen," She said, knowing there was little truth and cringing from her own words. "I think we need to talk… about what happened at the hospital."

"I think," there was a carefully guarded reserved tone to his agreement, "that would be wise."

Kol watched Maggie closely with a masked expression, his eyes calculating while he listened. He was truly starting to wonder what this mistake Maggie had been referring to was.

"Are you in Mystic Falls?" Maggie figured it was better to get this over with sooner than later.

"Yes, I'm at the mansion," Elijah answered, "Where are you?"

"Walking back to my house," Maggie said.

"I could drive you," Kol spoke up. Maggie turned in surprise, having almost forgotten that he was there. He added on nonchalantly, "I was heading that way already."

A grateful grinned rose up on Maggie's lips.

There was a concerned delay before Elijah inquired meaningfully, "You're… with Kol right now?" His surprise wasn't well hidden.

"Yeah, I just ran into him," Maggie replied thoughtlessly and then shook her head. What the hell? Why did she feel the need to justify that to Elijah?

Kol smirked slightly at her animation.

"I'll see you in a few minutes, okay?" Maggie rushed to get off the phone.

"Very well," Elijah said before hanging up. With an anxious exhale, Maggie looked to Kol and slipped the phone back in her pocket. With a nod from him towards the passenger seat, she got out of the rain and into the vehicle.

* * *

The ride to the Mikaelson mansion was rather quiet. Kol kept his gaze mostly on the road and Maggie only absently watched the windshield wipers. She couldn't read anything from his blank expression, but she knew he was thinking. Maggie wasn't sure if his silence was comforting or not.

The rain started to come down harder by the time they stopped in front of the massive double doors. It caused Maggie to dart quickly from the car to the door, Kol remaining a few steps ahead of her to hold the door open.

Stepping inside the foyer, Maggie wiped some of the water from her face. The heavy doors echoed within the home when Kol shut it behind him.

"Maggie?" Elijah's voice carried through the house, he emerged from one of the hallways.

Maggie looked up and gave him an anxious nod. She felt like even more of a drowned rat with the way he was so crisply dress and not a spot of rain on him.

Elijah halted momentarily while he took in the sight of the two. At first his gaze lingered on the jacket that Maggie wore, but he dismissed it easily when he saw Kol lacking one and considered the weather outside.

"I'll leave you two to it," Kol announced, filling the awkward silence between the three. He shoved his hands casually into his back pockets and started to walk away.

"Kol," Maggie stopped him with her voice. When he looked back at her, she thanked him, "Thank you for the ride."

He didn't say anything in response. He just gave her a short nod before disappearing into another wing of the house.

Feeling the nervous fluttering in her stomach, she looked towards Elijah. "Shall we?" He suggested, a hand gesturing towards the front living room.

Maggie followed the Original into the room, mentally trying to run through it was that she was going to say to him. No matter what she said, she realized, she would end up feeling terrible about it.

"Would you like a seat?" Elijah gestured politely to the sofa. "Perhaps I can take your jacket?"

"Oh… no," Maggie almost stammered, "No, thank you. I don't plan on staying long." And honestly, she was too nervous to even sit still.

Elijah turned to face her, choosing to remain standing with her in light of that. "How's your shoulder feel?" He didn't bother hiding the concern.

"It's much better now," Maggie said genuinely, but she made no move to show him. She didn't want to have to explain how the scar looked like it had been there for years and not just a few days now.

"Do you know what happened?" Elijah wondered, recalling how alarming it had been to see her bleeding so badly without reason.

Maggie shook her head, "No, I don't know… Do you?" She tried, maybe he had come up with something.

Elijah didn't though. "No, I'm sorry. I have no theories of any value," He explained.

Maggie nodded and bowed her head to try to collect her thoughts. It went without say between them that wasn't the only reason why she was here. Elijah patiently waited for her. She wrung her hands together in front of her and only stopped when Elijah closed his hands around hers.

"Maggie?" He urged her, trying to will her to look back up at him.

"Elijah," Maggie gathered what little nerve she had. "Everything you've done for me since you came here, most of it without me even asking, I can't thank you enough for… For being there for me."

She looked up to meet his gaze, feeling worse knowing she was about to drive a knife into someone who had been nothing but sincere to her. "I do like you," She said, she realized she wouldn't have been in this situation if there wasn't any truth in that simple fact. "But that kiss…"

There was a shattering noise from the depths of the house.

It caused both of them to look in the direction that it came from. "Is Kol still in the house?" Maggie wondered aloud. He had made it sound like he wasn't stick around, but if he was… then that meant there was a good chance he just heard everything she said.

"He's fine," Elijah reassured quickly. "You were saying?" He prompted, looking back to Maggie. He didn't have time to deal with whatever unstable outburst his younger was having right now. This was too important to be distracted from.

Maggie closed her eyes a moment, mentally damning herself even further. Now that she had started, she had to finish though.

"That kiss was a mistake," She declared, feeling the guilt twisting her insides up like an acid.

"Maggie," Elijah interrupted gently, "I apologize if it appeared like I was trying to take advantage of you. I'll admit that wasn't most opportune time for me to express myself, but you were upset and I..."

"No, Elijah," Maggie disagreed with him quickly, feeling worse by the moment. "It's not that."

"Then what is it?" He tried to see what she was strongly emotionally in front of him.

Maggie turned her hands within his, to grasp them while she went on to say using his word from earlier, "It was a mistake because you deserve someone who can genuinely admire you and not be hung up on someone else. And I'm not her."

Elijah inhaled slowly, letting that sink in. He was silent several painstaking moments before speaking again, "Maggie, I know you're going through a hard time right now and I'm sorry for your loss…"

"No," Maggie protested, her heart sinking when she realized Elijah thought she was talking about Glenn. "It's not Glenn."

Elijah's brows furrowed, pulling his head back a little in confusion. His next words came out slow and pronounced, as unsure of them as he felt, "It's… someone else?"

Maggie bit her bottom lip, to keep the tears welling up in her eyes at bay while she gave a curt nod.

Elijah opened and closed his mouth, at a rare, but genuine loss. Before he said anything, he looked away from Maggie towards the entryway of the living room. "Brother?"

Kol stood there without a word. His expression was pulled into an impassive mask of dark eyes and a hard set jaw. His eyes flickered back and forth between the two before settling on their hands.

Maggie gasped and yanked her hands away from Elijah. She took a step back to put more distance between them.

This was too much. The whole situation was twisted, here she was feeling like she had just been caught doing something wrong with Elijah. It was wrong and it wasn't wrong, which is what made it even more wrong.

"I'm sorry, Elijah," Maggie wished she could apologize for everything. "I have to go…"

She covered her mouth to keep the sob at bay while she darted out the room as fast as she could. Elijah was left with his mouth hanging open.

"I'll get her," Kol stirred first, hearing the front door open.

Elijah looked down to his hands, the same ones Maggie had acted as if they burned her as soon as she saw Kol. He glanced back up to where his brother disappeared to.

* * *

"Where are you going?" Kol's voice carried through the rain. It was coming down hard against the pavement and the glass of the house and vehicles. But Maggie wasn't going to the SUV, she was marching determinedly down the cobblestone driveway.

Out here it didn't matter if she cried or not, her tears mixed in with the rain. "Away from here," Maggie shouted back without looking back. She tugged the jacket around her frame, her hands shaking too much to even properly zip it up.

Kol followed after her quickly into the rain, just wearing his jeans and button-up shirt. His long strides reduced the distance between them faster than Maggie could claim it.

"You're going to what? Walk home?" Kol challenged the stubborn woman. It was miles from her place, she would get sick and worn out before she made it.

"Go away, Kol," Maggie snapped out, keeping her gaze on the soaked pavement. The back of her hand caught a sob on her lips.

"No," Kol refused and caught up to the human. He reached out to grab her upper arm to stop her. "Not until you stop and tell me what's wrong." He had thrown a glass when he heard what was said in the living room, but that didn't mean he understood what was going on.

Hell, he didn't even know why it bothered him so damn much.

Maggie squirmed her arm away from his grasp. "I can't," She protested, wanting to yank out her hair in frustration. "It's not supposed to be like this… This whole situation is fucked. You wouldn't understand."

Elijah watched the way Maggie waved her hand in the air without turning to face Kol. He couldn't hear the words that were being exchanged between them because of the rain falling on the glass, but he just watched from one of the front windows.

"Then help me understand," Kol demanded harshly. "Because it seems pretty damn clear to me." He followed after each one of her steps, the back of her head had never been so infuriating. "You kissed my brother," He hated the way that sounded, it came out strained from his throat, but he continued on anyway. "He likes you… You like him. What is so bloody complicated about that?"

It wasn't that he was trying to do his brother a favor, but he wanted to know why she was acting so crazy about this.

"It's not that simple, Kol," Maggie yelled back at him, wishing he would stop pushing this. "It was wrong. It shouldn't have happened at all."

"Why?!" Kol's voice bellowed against the sound of the falling water. It was highest Maggie ever heard him raise his voice to her and she slowed a little in her tracks at that.

"Why is it wrong?" He continued, throwing his hands in the air behind her. He was frustrated, not just because of this, but because of everything. He was frustrated at everything he was going through and the complete lack of answers. Just like the fact she wouldn't give him a straight answer.

"Tell me _why_," He continued to shout, his tone coming out more desperate for clarity than before.

Maggie squeezed her eyes shut, wanting to scream. "Damnit, Kol. It was Elijah!" She rose to match his volume level, her cracking without the same strength. "It wasn't right because it wasn't _you_!"

Her boots nearly slipped on the wet pavement from how quickly she came to a stumbling halt. A loud gasp sounded from her before her hands clamped over her mouth. Her eyes were wide with horror at what she said.

That was not the way she wanted him to find out. Not screaming at each other in the pouring rain, standing in Kol's driveway.

She turned around quickly with her hands over her mouth. The only reason Kol hadn't collided with Maggie was because his quick reflexes stopped him dead in his tracks.

The anger and frustration in his expression was wiped away clean by open-mouthed shock. "Me?" Kol repeated.

Her fingers fell away from her lips slowly as she stared up at him. Her throat was a lump. She pulled her hands away from her face just enough to nod one time.

"You wish…" He began slowly in disbelief as he took away the last step of distance between them. "It was me that kissed you?"

Maggie forced herself to swallow before answering him in a quiet, almost fearful manner. "Every time."

The look of wonder on his face slowly morphed into something else entirely. She watched the way his eyes lit up and the small 'o' of his lips turned into a grin.

His hand reached up to her face. He peeled the lock of hair that was plastered to her forehead by the rain and tucked it behind her ear. He took in the vision of this woman, her skin pale from the cool of the rain, water dripping off her cheeks, which were flush with emotion. Those emeralds looked to him with an array of emotion, fear, hurt, but also hope.

To him, this waterlogged fragile human was beautiful.

His fingers stroked down the side of her cheek before Kol leaned down to her confidently. The hands were clasped in front of her body rose to wrap around his neck as their lips met. Maggie rose up on her toes and her eyes shut at the feeling.

His kiss was soft and gentle at first, for a moment just exploring what it felt like to taste hers. To Maggie, it felt like coming home, especially when his arms moved to pull her into his embrace. She got the feeling she had desired all this time when their lips started to move together. It was the feeling of warmth rising in her chest and everything else that didn't matter slipping away. The only thing that did matter was this man and how she loved him.

Her fingers curled into the back of his head, running through his wet locks of hair. A content sound came from her throat when he coaxed her mouth open to deepen the kiss. His hands shifted to the front the jacket, to slip inside the flaps so he could hold her properly. The wet fabric of his sleeves drew a chill, but not as much as it felt to have his hands running up down along her sides and lower back again.

As intoxicating as it felt to kiss him again, Maggie had to eventually pull away and breathe. His lips followed after hers, seeming reluctant to stop, but he recognized her need. Kol eased back, but didn't let go of her. They both took a moment to catch themselves and calm down, Kol's face remaining hovering next to hers.

"Kol," Maggie sighed his name out like a soft prayer, meeting his stare. A rare authentic smile crept up on his face, his lips more flush than they normally were. The smile was infectious and Maggie found herself returning it.

Kol pulled one hand back from her to reach into his pocket. "Here," He offered a pair of car keys out to her before stepping back to give her room. He had promised to let her go once he got his answer.

Maggie took them hesitantly, until she recognized them as the same ones to the SUV parked at the front of the house. It looked remarkably similar to the one she used to own.

"Thank you," She gave gratefully, clutching the keys tightly in her hand.

Kol just inclined his head nonchalantly, the smile still large on his expression. Maggie stepped around him towards the SUV, unable to truly appreciate how she had gone from crying one moment to practically giddy the next.

Kol sauntered back up towards the house after Maggie. Before she climbed into the vehicle, his voice stopped her. "Oh, and darling…" He smirked at her confidently, "The next time I see you, there'll be nothing stopping me from kissing you again."

Maggie tried to bite her lip to keep from smiling too much, but failed miserably. "I hope so," She said simply before slipping into the driver's seat, not realizing just how much she was taunting the predator.

Kol stood out in the rain, not feeling the least bit put out or cold as he watched the vehicle turn around in the driveway. Only after it had turned out onto the street did he look back to the house. He saw the movement of the curtain and Elijah turning away from the window.

The smug look never left his face.

* * *

The next time Maggie saw Kol was at Lucy's house. She actually hadn't been planning on seeing him there at all. Apparently neither did the rest of the party that was there. It was Lucy's turn to host the card night that Maggie had missed while she was in the hospital. The doppelganger showed up early to Lucy's house to help her with some of the food. The tradition was that the host would cook the food and everyone else would bring the booze. So naturally, Lucy was elected to host quite frequently.

Meredith and Marissa along with another nurse from the hospital were amongst the first to arrive. One of the officers from the police department showed up too, Maggie vaguely recalled his last name being Philips. Then there was a math teacher from the high school. To Maggie's annoyance, Seamus showed up too. He was funny at first, but Maggie was starting to find him annoying the more she was around him.

To Maggie's surprise, Alaric showed up. At first, she wasn't sure what to think of that with him being so close to Damon and the rest of the Mystic Falls' gang that Maggie preferred to avoid. But he took a seat next to Meredith and it ended up being less awkward than she expected. They had a large table pulled out on the deck just off the sliding glass door from the kitchen. Wooden benches were on each side of the set.

Maggie sat on the end of the one with her back to the house as she quietly listened to most of the conversation. She nibbled a little on some of the fresh produce here and there, but simply enjoyed being able to enjoy a normal evening. She hid a couple small laughs behind her hand.

They were mostly through the food when the sliding glass door opened to reveal the last late arrival.

"Kol," Lucy exclaimed, pleasantly surprised, causing the conversation at the table to die down in an instant. "I thought you weren't coming?"

The Original smirked as he stepped out onto the deck. "I changed my mind," He replied vaguely.

There were a few anxious glances amongst each other from the adults, especially between Meredith and Alaric, but no one objected to him being there. The only calm ones were Lucy, Seamus with a smug expression and Maggie biting the inside of her cheek.

With being the last one there, only two seats were left. One right next to Seamus and the other at the end of the bench next to Maggie. It didn't take Kol more than a second to decide where to sit.

"What's a matter, Kol? Don't want to sit next to me?" Seamus taunted his seating selection.

Kol glared at him a moment, but pointedly ignored him while he draped his arm on the back of the bench behind Maggie.

"Hello darling," Kol greeted Maggie instead, leaning into her personal space.

Maggie rolled her eyes and tried to keep her cheeks from flaring up.

Seamus didn't like being ignored. He tried to egg Kol on, "Aw, come on now. Don't tell me you're still sore over that little splinter I gave you."

The grinned melted off Kol's face to be replaced by an icy stare as he looked by at the warlock. "You ran a stake through my chest, if I recall," He corrected in a threateningly calm tone.

"You broke my iPad," Seamus shot back quickly, undeterred by Kol's glare.

"Alright, enough," Lucy's voice cut into their bickering. "Play nice you two, or I _will _put you into separate corners." She waved a finger at them.

"Of course," Kol responded to Lucy before directing at Seamus with a toothy polite smile, "Let bygones be bygones, right?"

Seamus shrugged, but kept his mouth shut knowing Lucy was about one blink away from giving him a headache for his smart mouth.

Maggie's eyes were on Kol. She knew that polite façade just hid the fact he was planning something for later. Before she could think better of it, Maggie placed her hand on his knee and whispered quietly, "Don't."

Kol startled at the contact. He glanced down to Maggie's hand with imploring alarm. She looked way and slowly pulled her hand back in her lap, pretending to focus intending on the fact Alaric was dealing a new game of Bullshit. Kol studied her profile, wondering where that came from.

The game started with Kol joining in and it went by smoother once everyone started talking again. To say Kol took an interest in Maggie was obvious to everyone at the table. Kol didn't bother moving his arm, his hand moved to her shoulder a few times that leaned in to whisper in her ear. Most times he earned a roll of her eyes or a light playful elbow to his side.

Occasionally Kol and Seamus traded sharp comments, earning a warning look from Lucy each time. Alaric was just glad that Kol wasn't looking over at Meredith, even after the two had daggered him that time before the outbreak.

Lucy started getting frustrated in the game. No matter how many times she tried to slide one by the group, Maggie would just get a sly look on her face before calling bullshit. It wasn't long before she ended up with what looked like half the deck in her hand.

"Hey Lucy, I thought you were supposed to be able to read what our hands are," Officer Philips spoke up.

"I'm a witch, not a psychic," Lucy corrected sourly while she shuffled the latest stack of cards into her hand. Normally she dominated at this game.

"Well, excuse me," Philips threw his hands up innocently, earning a few chuckles from the table.

It wasn't lost on Kol at what was going on though. He noticed the way Maggie always looked just over Lucy's right shoulder before calling out bullshit. There was nothing there of course, just the empty space and the deck railing behind Lucy.

Kol leaned down to her ear to whisper, much closer than what was appropriate but he didn't care. "What is it that you keep staring at?"

Maggie's lips rolled over her teeth as she mentally debated on how to answer him. In truth, she had been staring at the ghost of the elder witch for a nod or a shake of her head each time. This time, she was looking at her not to see if Lucy was being truthful in her numbers, but if she should answer Kol's question.

She gave a vague shrug of her shoulders before nodding.

Maggie inhaled deeply and turned her head to Kol. For a moment, she was stunned at how close he was to her, but she leaned up to his ear to make sure it stayed between them. "Sheila Bennett," She whispered.

Kol's eyebrows rose and his eyes widened. He pulled his head back to look her in the eyes. "You can see ghosts?" He mouthed.

Maggie felt herself blushing. She nodded tersely before looking away from him, back to the game. She wasn't sure what made her more nervous, telling him about that secret or the way it didn't cause him to recoil in the slightest. She could practically feel his smirk.

Kol marveled over the fact this mortal never ceased to surprise him. What a fascinating gift.

Trying to focus on the game was nearly impossible with the way Kol was leaning so close she could smell his cologne. The arm draped across the back of her seat taunted her further with the occasional brush of his thumb against her shoulder. Maggie had to stubbornly keep her gaze forward on the pile of cards in the center of the table. She knew if she turned her head, Kol's would only be a few inches away.

"Who else have you been seeing?" Kol whispered into her ear quietly.

Maggie wanted to tell him, she really did, but now wasn't the time for it.

"Kol!" Lucy's voice interrupted the two of them.

"What?" Kol asked, looking away from Maggie with a blank expression.

"It's your turn," Lucy reminded him with a raise of her eyebrows.

"Oh," Kol mumbled and then his expression furrowed after a moment. "What number are we on?"

Lucy rolled her eyes and Maggie heard a sigh with a slight headshake from Alaric. "Bullshit," Officer Philips preemptively muttered behind his hand.

"Hey mate," Seamus spoke up, mocking Kol's accent in the process. "Maybe you would know whose turn it was… if you weren't too busy staring down Maggie's shirt."

Any smirk on Kol's face dropped off instantly and was replaced with a stony stare at the warlock.

"Seamus!" Lucy scolded immediately.

Maggie felt the heat of embarrassment thick on her cheeks. "Okay!" Her voice rose, a little higher than normal and she slammed her hands down on the table with her hand of cards.

"I think I'll go take care some of these dishes, yeah?" She left little room for it to be an actual question before she leaned over the table and started grabbing some of the plates.

Lucy frowned but didn't protest. She didn't want to be a bad host and let Maggie clean the dishes, but she understood the doppelganger just needed to get away from everyone, particularly Seamus, for a few minutes.

The table was uncomfortably quiet while Maggie gathered the dishes.

"Thank you, Maggie," Meredith murmured quietly while Maggie grabbed the last plate from her.

Kol glared harshly at the warlock, who kept the same arrogant and challenging smirk on his face. The Original only looked away to see the way Maggie leaned over the table and then followed her as she went back inside the house. He particularly watched the way she had to move to step over his legs and slide out from between the bench and the table. His eyes didn't miss the way her jeans hugged her hips and the tank top accentuated the curves of her body.

* * *

**[Warning: The following scene may not be suitable for all readers due to sexual content.]**

Maggie left the sliding door open behind her before setting the dishes down in the sink. She threw the hot water on the facet and dumped some soap into the sink while she let it fill. With a frustrated sigh, she ran her fingers through her hair and waited.

It was hard enough sitting close to Kol, knowing that he was teasing her and then Seamus had to go antagonizing him. She could faintly hear Lucy reprimanding Seamus outside and the others trying to carry on with the game.

Maggie placed her hands against the counter, hunching over slightly and closed her eyes. She let out a deep slow breath, trying to clear her head.

The sound of wood slamming cut it short. Maggie's eye snapped open and she looked to her left to see the sliding door shut.

Before she could move, two hands caught her shoulders. Maggie jumped visibly and turned her head to see Kol stepping up behind her. "Kol?" She questioned, not sure whether or not it was a good thing to be cornered in the kitchen by him right now.

"How's your scar feel?" He asked of her in a surprisingly gentle tone before she could say anything further.

"It's much better now," Maggie said honestly, the corner of her eye watching the way Kol's hand moved the strap of her tank and bra off her shoulder to get a better look at the wound. She felt his thumb trace lightly over the crescent shape wound. The red irritation surrounding it had faded away, leaving the gleaming white raised tissue.

Kol moved his hands off her shoulders to rest lightly on her sides. Without saying anything, he leaned down to her shoulder and Maggie felt his lips brush against the sensitive skin. She inhaled sharply while he placed not one, better several short kisses that worked up to the top of her shoulder.

"What are you doing?" Maggie found herself questioning, despite the shiver he gave her.

Kol only paused to whisper in her ear. "Isn't it obvious?" His hot breath fell against her neck. "Kissing you."

Maggie swallowed thickly at that, feeling the heat rising to her cheeks with a renewed fury. Kol's hands slid down to her hips, pointedly holding her, keeping her from walking away and being able to turn around as well.

"Now," Kol whispered again, hearing no protest from Maggie. His eyes flickered to the window above the sink. "Close the curtain…" He then added on with a smirk, "Unless you want them to see."

Maggie followed his gaze to the window. It had a set of semi-sheer curtains. Just through the window, the rest of the table was carrying on with the game. With the glare of the sunlight, they probably weren't immediately noticeable, unless someone looked directly through the window.

What didn't he want them seeing?

Maggie knew better, she probably should get away from this. But it was hard to be rational with the way his lips brushing against the side of her neck. Against her better judgment, she followed his order and reached up to tug the curtains over the window.

Outside, Lucy's gaze flickered briefly from her hand to the movement in the window. She didn't think anyone else noticed, but she frowned slightly at it. She saw Kol slinking inside the house shortly after Maggie. She bit her lip lightly, mulling over what the closed curtain meant.

The kisses on Maggie's neck became firmer and Maggie tilted her head to the side, giving him more room. She wanted to turn around and face him, but his hands on her hips kept her in place. Getting impatient, she turned her head towards him, tilting her chin up to match his looming height. She barely had to wait a moment before he appeased her with his lips over hers.

Maggie sighed contently while her lips moved against his, sucking on his lower lip. His hands moved off her hips to wrap around her torso, pulling her body back flush against his chest. Maggie let one hand fall on his forearm while the other reached up to the back of his head. She tugged on his hair, pulling him down harder into the kiss as his tongue slipped past her lips and into her mouth.

His hands began to wander, subtle at first, before they slipped under the hem of her tank. Kol felt her stomach quiver under his touch. One hand lingered along her waistline while the other brushed up just under her bust line. Pushing it even further, Kol felt a sharp gasp against his lips when his hand squeezed her bra clad breast.

Maggie pulled back from the kiss the moment she felt the button on her jeans loosen up. "Kol?!" Maggie protested, her eyes opening in alarm.

"Shhhhh," Kol purred, not letting her lips get far away from him. His hands did not stop moving while he whispered to her, specifically one slipping down the front of her jeans. "You're going to have to be quiet, darling, otherwise they'll hear you," He warned in a dark and sensual tone.

Maggie continued protest turned into a loud gasp at the feel of his fingers sliding between her folds, a cool contrast to the heated arousal.

Kol took advantage of the moment to claim her mouth with his once more. His hand on her breast moved down to shift her jeans off her hips a bit, allowing his other hand more room to move.

Maggie struggled physically and mentally. His arms kept her body trapped against his. Her nails dug into his forearm, trying to pull his hand out of her pants, but she couldn't budge against his strength. At the same time, she wasn't sure if the hand pulling his head was trying to pull him away or closer. If she could turn around, she didn't know whether or not she would push him away or grab him to her.

The fingers rubbing in circular motions against her caused a moan to build up in her throat before she could help herself. His lips pressed down harder against hers to muffle the sound. Maggie's eyes rolled to the back of her head before shutting.

Her resistance and restraint failed her. Maggie found herself leaning back into Kol, especially for support when her hips shifted as two fingers slid inside her. Her hand on his forearm went behind her, grasping any part of him that she could, knotting on his jeans while her other clutched to the back of his head.

"Quiet, darling," Kol reminded her with a smirk on his lips when Maggie started to moan louder. He reveled in the feeling of her body quivering against his chest and smelling just how aroused she was in the air. His own was pressed against her rear while he felt her hips buck from his hand.

Kol silenced her again with his lips. He picked up the pace of his movements to taunt her further and push her closer to the edge.

Maggie gave up trying to kiss him, but used his mouth to muffle her noises when she felt the knotting tension in her core reaching the breaking point.

A mixed cry of pleasure and whimpering escaped her lips onto his as she climaxed. She rode out every overwhelming and intoxicating sensation of the moment, urged on by the unrelenting teasing of his hands on her body. Her knees quivered and Maggie's hands shook, loosening and grasping again onto Kol, unsure what to do with all the release of this energy.

Her mind became a haze, heady and drunk on the feel of his body against hers. The more she tried to keep quiet, the more intense it felt, like a pressure building and itching to be released… But she just couldn't, she had to keep it quiet.

Even long after her peak, it started to become too much for her to handle. She was too sensitive to his touch, his lips mashed over hers and the feel of his muscles. Maggie tore her lips away from his without opening her eyes. "Please," She couldn't believe how pleading her tone was, rushed and breathless. "Please, stop. I can't…"

Kol smirked triumphantly at the way she begged. As much as he wanted to continue, he relented and his fingers stopped moving. He slowly withdrew his hand from her pants while Maggie panted heavily, trying to catch her breath. She opened her eyes, meeting his stare. They were wide, bewildered and her cheeks were flush.

He loosened his arms up around her, for the first time allowing her to move. Maggie's hand dropped from the back of Kol's head and she started to turn towards him. Kol raised his hands to lips, very pointedly sucking each one clean of her juice without breaking her gaze.

"Kol…" Maggie murmured, but had no idea what to say. Reality came seeping in moment by moment as she started to calm down. What was someone supposed to say after something like that?

"I'll see you around, darling," Kol smirked at her before she could get another word in. He stepped back from her swiftly at that and walked towards the sliding door. He gave her one more smirk over his shoulder before slipping outside to join the others as if nothing had happened.

In a stunned daze, Maggie stared after the closed glass door. At least, until she realized the facet was still running and water was overflowing into the other sink. She reached over and shut it off quickly before bracing herself against the counter top.

Her heart was still pounding out of her chest at how quickly she had gone from washing dishes to a moaning mess in Kol's arms. The sliding glass door opened but a second later.

"Maggie?" Lucy's voice called out as she stepped inside.

Maggie startled visible. "Lucy!" She gasped. "Fuck, I… Sorry," Her hands shot quickly to her jeans, trying to pull them back up to where they should be.

Lucy froze with her eyebrows raised. Maggie turned away from the witch, hurriedly trying to zip up her jeans again. The witch noticed her dishevel state, how swollen her lips were, the way her tank was bunched up and the obvious loose jeans.

"I'm just, I'm just…" Maggie stuttered, "Going to use the bathroom."

"Go ahead," Lucy mumbled numbly, watching the flustered doppelganger barely wait for a response before darting out of the room. "I'll finish the dishes…"

* * *

Maggie took her time in the bathroom, cleaning herself up, fixing her hair and washing her face. She splashed the cool water against her skin, trying to flush out as much as what happened moments ago as she could. So much for self-control, she thought bitterly. How had she just let that get out of hand so quickly?

Maggie groaned to herself. Now what was she supposed to do? How do you look someone in the eye after they just saw your o' glory face in your friend's kitchen with almost everyone you knew sitting outside? Maggie wasn't sure if she wanted to jump Kol or strangle him. Maybe a combination of both, she mused.

Eventually, she had to face them again. She remerged from the house without getting too many second glances from the others. She sunk back down in her seat, but this time made sure there was more than enough distance between her and Kol. She refused to look over at him the rest of the time. She didn't want to see his smug expression.

It was hard for her to enjoy the rest of the evening. She kept getting paranoid about it. She wondered if the others knew. Did they hear her? Did Lucy say anything to them or Kol? Did they notice they were both gone inside of the house? How long exactly was she absent?

Maggie was almost relieved that Kol was one of the first to leave. He bided his goodnight to everyone politely and Maggie only gave him a curt nod. Lucy rose up in her seat to see him out and exchange a few words.

Lucy saw Kol through the kitchen, making sure the others wouldn't hear them as they walked towards the front door. "Oh, Kol," Lucy added on, her tone taking a threatening level. "If I ever walk in on you two going at it bare ass naked on my counters, I will set yours on fire. You hear me?"

Kol's expression lit up with amusement. "That almost sounds like a challenge," He mused aloud with one hand on the door knob.

Lucy's eyes narrowed on him sharply. The Original gasped loudly and his hand shot up to his temple, visibly cringing from the induced aneurysm.

"Kidding!" Kol gasped out quickly. "I'm kidding. Okay, okay, I'm leaving…" He darted out through the doorway to get away from the headache before the witch could get any more ideas.

On the back deck, Maggie decided it was time for her to go as well. She rose up from her seat and said her goodbyes to the others. If it was sans Kol messing with her, she could see herself coming back out for another night with this group.

She caught Lucy inside the house on the way out. She thanked her for having her over and being so understanding. What surprised Maggie was the lightweight scarf that Lucy had waiting in her hand when she stepped inside.

"You should probably wear this for the next couple of days," Lucy held the scarf out to her.

"Why?" Maggie's brows furrowed, hesitantly taking the fabric in her hands.

Lucy pointed casually to her neck, "Because the hickies on your neck are starting to show."

Maggie's expression paled. As if she wasn't mortified enough as it was.

* * *

Kol didn't understand. He did everything he could think of and he still couldn't shake it. Well, maybe he should take that statement back. He didn't do _everything_, but killing her wasn't a viable option in this situation. No, he didn't have an interest in doing that at the moment.

Instead, he thought he could get her out of his head if he finished the chase. That's what it was all about for predators, right? He couldn't drink her blood, but he found himself having little interest in doing that anyway. That left the only other thing that wanted from her, right?

After the card night, Kol knew he could probably have her any moment that he wanted. She had melted so perfectly into his arms by his touch and command. It was all about power and control, he definitely had that with her. So that would be it, right? Without the chase, he grew bored. It was over, he could move onto the next thing.

But now, even after that night, it was driving him insane. If anything, it was getting worse. He could so easily imagine more from her. The memory of her moaning and her quivering body replayed in his mind. It was so easy to imagine how her body would feel against his, the way she would smell and the sounds she would make for him. At times it was frighteningly realistic what his imagination could produce.

With a groan of frustration, Kol wandered into the living room of the Mikaelson mansion. Elijah was sitting in one of the armchairs, calmly reading a book. They hadn't spoken much since Maggie was over, but Kol knew he wasn't an idiot and what he saw. At the end of the day, she was just a girl and he was his brother though.

"Dagger me, Elijah," Kol grumbled, flopping down unceremoniously onto the sofa, always seeming sprawled out on furniture because of his height. He stared up at the ceiling before muttered in disgust, "I think I'm turning into Rebekah."

Honestly, how many times had he taunted her about getting involved with mortals?

Elijah pursed his lips at the interruption. He glanced up at his brother. Well, he certainly had the melodramatic part down correct. "Brother," He acknowledged in a dry tone, laced with undertones of annoyance. "Until you start wearing dresses and trying on her shoes, I fail to see the actual concern."

Kol's expression scrunched up ruefully. "I'm trying to be serious here," He protested.

Elijah sighed into his book. He made a mental note of the page before making a point of closing the book, setting it down in his lap. "Alright," He nodded towards Kol. "You have my serious attention."

Kol couldn't tell if he was still mocking him or not. The two brothers stared at each other for a long while, sizing up who had a better poker face. Eventually, Kol let it go and went ahead with it. He shifted to lean forward in his seat, his elbows on his knees.

"I don't know what to do," He admitted frankly. "I just can't get it out of my head and I don't know what to do about it. I just…" Kol struggled to describe it along with being openly honest. It wasn't something he normally did with his siblings. It had been so long since the last time.

Elijah watched him thoughtfully as he spoke. Admittedly, he was waiting for the joke or outburst. He wasn't expecting Kol to actually be coming to him for sincere advice. He couldn't help but wonder if this was because of someone else though. Elijah didn't really like it and his pride wanted to deny any truth to it.

But he couldn't deny the signs that were there. It seemed so obvious to him now, even if he didn't understand it completely.

"This thing…are you sure," Elijah countered him with a question, as much as it strained him to say it, "It doesn't have something to do with a certain doppelganger?"

Kol didn't answer him. He stared down at his hands instead, fidgeting with his fingers.

Elijah expected an immediate denial, but he was a little more frustrated with being ignored. How was he supposed to speak with him if he only gave vague mumblings and ignored his questions? It would quickly turn into a one-sided conversation.

Elijah rose up to his feet, having a feeling this would be over shortly. He went over to the bookcase and Kol watched him, but still said nothing.

The eldest Original slid the book back in its proper place on the shelf. He then said something he had repeated time and time again with weariness in his voice, "Would it really be so terrible to let yourself care for someone again, brother?"

The selfish part of Elijah didn't want it to be for Maggie, but at this point he would be happy if anyone could bring out of his brother again. It had been gone for so long.

Kol gave a snort from the sofa, which didn't surprise. What he muttered under his breath next caused Elijah to do a double take, "It's a little late for that lecture, 'Lijah."

Elijah stared at him numbly, his fingers still hanging on the bookcase. For a brief moment, he wondered if he was actually losing his hear.

"You turned your humanity back on?" Elijah couldn't believe he was even asking.

Kol looked up from his hands. There was no smirk on his face. There came no mocking sneer that he fooled him. If anything, he looked lost before giving one short nod.

Elijah's feet carried him back over to the armchair. His hand blindly reached out to the rest to guide himself back into the seat without looking. He didn't trust himself to look away from Kol, or even blink for that matter.

"When?" Elijah picked his words carefully. It wasn't the type of thing Kol would say twice nor did he know how long he could get him to be honest for.

Kol ran a hand through his hair, a little aggravated as he thought about it. "A few weeks now," He replied.

_Weeks_. Elijah nearly choked on that word. All this time, he didn't know. He just thought Kol was being his typical unpredictable self. He didn't really look twice at the trouble that he caused. He was just acting out as Rebekah put it.

"Do you remember when I supposed to pick you up and I was late?" Kol only paused to get a small nod from Elijah before continuing. "It was that day."

"How?" Elijah cleared his throat, clarifying once he remembered how to use more than one word again, "How did it happen?"

"I don't know," Kol said bluntly with a shrug of his shoulders. "It literally just hit me out of nowhere, it knocked me out."

Elijah frowned in intrigue and confusion, but didn't interrupt him. Usually there's a trigger of some sort and it wasn't something that could be easily overlooked.

"I came around a few hours later. I cut through the town square to save some time. I ran into Damon Salvatore and Margaret," Kol rattled off the events, still sneering the vampire's name in the process. "I left her at Lucy's house. I went hunting after that, I thought maybe I could push it away and clear my head. Then I met up with you."

Elijah was at a loss. He heard about how intense it could be for a vampire to turn it on after a long time, but this was beyond him.

"I don't know what to do, 'LIjah," Kol confessed. For once, looking at the young man looking for advice from his older brother instead of the deadly cold monster he normally was. "I keep trying to push it out, I really do. But every time I do, it just keeps _creeping back in_." Each word was strained with his frustration. "I can't get it to stop."

But Elijah didn't know what to tell him other than, "It always does." He was asking for the opposite of what Elijah would have supported.

He was silent several minutes while he mulled this revelation over it. It was probably a good thing he was sitting down. He was almost in a numb shock from it all. He felt for clearly it was torturing Kol, but he didn't know what he could do for him.

"So all this time," Elijah began, trying to understand, but one major point stuck out to him still. "Those people you killed…"

And just like that, Kol became a steel trap. He could almost see the judgment in Elijah and in return Elijah saw him shut down before his eyes. Kol sat up stiffly in his seat.

"I killed with my humanity," Kol confirmed what he couldn't say in a flat tone. Kol rose up to his feet. That was enough for him. Go figure. He should have known better that was the reaction he would get from the all so moral and honorable Elijah.

"I never claimed it was good," He added on harshly.

"Kol, wait," Elijah protested, realizing his error but his sibling already had his back to him. He was gone a moment later and the front door of the house slammed loudly.

* * *

Maggie tugged at the scarf around her neck in frustration. It was too hot to be wearing scarves, but one look in the mirror when she got back to the Greene house and she knew she had to. She had a long purple and pink bruise running along the side of her neck. It made her blush thinking at how caught up in the moment she had been, she hadn't realized just what Kol was doing to her. He had definitely managed to mark her in more than one way.

Now, those bruises were faded into green and yellow tinges. She would be glad when they were gone. The scarf made things uncomfortable like hanging laundry out behind the house, like she was now. She was hanging up the freshly washed sheets to dry when she was startled by a ghostly guest.

"What are you doing here?" Maggie hissed lowly after getting over her initial shock. She glanced briefly back to the house to make sure no one was watching. "You're not supposed to be here."

The last thing she needed was her family thinking she was crazy on top of sick.

He wasn't deterred in the slightest though. "I'm just making sure you're holding up your end of the deal," Mikael replied to her confidently.

Maggie kept moving, not wanting to make it obvious she was talking to someone in case Daryl or Beth came outside.

"I'm sure you've noticed the lack of visits from Esther," He pointed out.

"I've noticed," Maggie said flatly while she pulled the next sheet out from the laundry basket. She yanked the fabric a little rougher than necessary.

"Good," Mikael had one hand tucked lightly into his pant pocket. He still wore the same business suit from their last meeting. Maggie briefly wondered if he died in it. "I went to Georgia."

That earned a glance from the corner of her eye.

"The tree is still there, as promised," He then gave a smug grin. "And you wouldn't believe what I found roaming around on that little farm of yours there. I think he'll be able to get you there safely."

Maggie stopped what she was doing to look at Mikael fully. She caught the shadow behind him, through the transparency of the sheets in the wind. A glance down, she saw dark pants with a white stripe down the pant leg and thick black boots.

The new ghost stepped around the sheet to come into Maggie's line of vision. Her eyes traveled up from the pants to the beige cotton shirt with a King County Sheriff's Deputy logo on the corner and the loaded belt around his waist. He had a stocky build with defined arms, like he had been a football player in high school. He had an angular jawline and a wide nose. His dark eyes matched the stubble of hair growing on in from shaving his head a while ago. His calloused hands were on his waist as he gave Maggie an anxious look.

"Shane?"

* * *

_Author's Note: Oh snap. _

_So remember that time you found out the story summary duped ya? ;D_

_I think intense is going to be my word for this chapter. What do you think?_

_Bring on your reactions! I want to hear your thoughts on all the Kolie madness, Kol's confession, and of course for my TWD fans out there – I'm sure that last scene is going to have you spazzing out._

_Next chapter – Georgia._

_If there's a lot of typos, I apologize, it's like 2am right now._

_Please please review! I want to thank everyone that reviewed last chapter, it's really the reason why I wrote this chapter as quickly as I did. I truly appreciate the love and support._

_Review responses –_

_M: I'm glad you liked that scene with Anna and Jeremy! As we see Maggie revealing her secrets, things are going to spiral out of control – very very quickly and badly. Anyway, I'm not going to say much but get some ear plugs for the feels noises you're going to be making. :D _

_aSprightlySoar – I can't remember if I replied to your review or not so I'm sorry if I repeat myself. Anyway, I'm glad I can improve your day! That means a lot that my writing can bring that kind of joy. I'm really trying to take advantage of the medium feature and have as many ghost appearances as possible so everyone can have their moment. I think the ship name for Elena/Elijah is Elejah, but I could be wrong. Anyway, I think this chapter answers a lot the things you were hoping to see. ;)_

_darkangel: Thank you so much, thank you for leaving a review too!_

_Kellie: Thanks for the support, girl! I know I answered your questions, but I'll reiterate some here for everyone. Yes, Maggie's treatment was like getting blood transfusions with Elijah's blood. We did see her react to the blood, but the reason we didn't see her completely flip out like she did with Damon was because she didn't directly drink the blood or smell it – like she did in IR. Elijah is attracted Maggie because he sees a bit of himself in her and the potential for the person she could be. Whether or not she was more in common with him or Kol is up to the reader's, but I'm a diehard Kolie. I think maybe pre-outbreak Malijah would have won if she didn't meet Kol, but now it's all Kolie. _

_Ellie: Thank you so much! And I know, this chapter was tough to write for Elijah. I felt bad for him the entire time, but he's in a lose-lose situation with Maggie since she's not really available. Silas and the Cure will go down in Emerald Rage. I'm using IRR to provide some of the background and history to that._

_Guest: Ask and you shall receive! Thank you!_


	9. Chapter 9

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

**[Warning: The following chapter may not be suitable for all readers due to language, violence and sexual content.]**

_Chapter Songs:_

_Wye Oak – Civilian_

_Scene: Maggie and Shane driving to Georgia_

_OneRepublic - Monster_

_Scene: The White Oak Tree_

_Maroon 5 – Love Somebody_

_Scene: Motel room_

_Chapter Nine_

The new ghost stepped around the sheet to come into Maggie's line of vision. Her eyes traveled up from the pants to the beige cotton shirt with a King County Sheriff's Deputy logo on the corner and the loaded belt around his waist. He had a stocky build with defined arms, like he had been a football player in high school. He had an angular jawline and a wide nose. His dark eyes matched the stubble of hair growing on in from shaving his head a while ago. His calloused hands were on his waist as he gave Maggie an anxious look.

"Shane?"

* * *

The ghost gave a short of acknowledgment. "Maggie," He replied in a low, gruff tone. The apprehension was clear on his face. It wasn't misplaced either. They only tolerated each on the best of days, this wasn't exactly someone Maggie wanted to greet with open arms.

It was because of that Maggie stared at him with a blank expression for several moments.

She only snapped out of it to suddenly turn her attention back to Mikael. Figuring to hell with trying to be discreet about their conversation, she stepped right up to Mikael to get eye to eye with him. "What the fuck is this?" She hissed bluntly between her teeth.

"How can I see him?" Maggie questioned. She could only see the supernatural on the Other Side. "He's human."

A slow smug expression grew on Mikael's face and how Maggie wanted to wipe it off. For a moment, she really wished she could physically strike the ghost.

Shane cleared his throat rather awkwardly before mumbling, "Not just human."

"Excuse me?" Maggie's head snapped in his direction sharply.

"Apparently, your friend here had a dormant werewolf gene that was only just triggered shortly before his death," Mikael announced casually. It unnerved Maggie even further the way ghosts spoke in the past tense about someone, even though she could clearly see Shane standing just behind him.

"Werewolf?" Maggie fumbled on the word as she took a step back from Mikael.

Her eyes wandered to Shane, who kept his head down but didn't disagree with the Original. He looked like the only reason he believed it was because he had almost a year of aimlessly wandering around the farm to figure out what went wrong.

"That's right," Mikael nodded, continuing on confidently, "He can be your eyes and ears from the Other Side. He knows the way there and back."

"No," Maggie cut him off before he could keep going. She started shaking her head. "I'm not going anywhere with him."

The smirk slid off Mikael's face into an ominous glare.

"Did he tell you what happened to the last person that went on a supply run with him?" Maggie scoffed at Mikael, refusing to look at Shane. He honestly disgusted her and somehow it seemed fitting to find out he was the same supernatural beast that matched his poisonous personality.

"It wasn't like that, Maggie," Shane tried to defend himself. The others weren't there. They didn't see the decision he had to make for either one of them to get out of there alive.

Maggie only glared at Shane to utter the simple, but heartfelt words, "Fuck you."

With that, she roughly grabbed the laundry basket. She was going to march right back into the house and way from this bullshit.

Mikael ran a hand roughly against his chin in aggravation, but he kept his reaction controlled to that and the tightening of his other fist.

"And just what do you think your alternative is?" He challenged the doppelganger. Even though he could only see her back, with the basket on her hip, he knew she heard him.

She stopped in her tracks, wondering what he was getting at.

"If I take it that you're going back on our deal, how do you plan on handling Esther?" Mikael taunted further. "Do you really think your little lessons with Jeremy Gilbert will be enough to keep away a thousand year old witch?"

Maggie's grip on the hard plastic tightened. He made it sound like the witch wouldn't be the only thousand year old ghost she would have to worry about. She didn't want to admit it, but there was a basic truth in that. How long could she really last before the witch overpowered her?

"And how long will it be before Niklaus comes to kill you?" Mikael stabbed the knife a little further. He finally added on, "There's no walking away from this."

His meaning was clear with his tone. Esther won't let her walk away, the confrontation with Niklaus is inevitable and clearly Mikael won't let it go either.

If Klaus killed her, that would be one hellish stay on the Other Side with the Original witch and father. There's only way to avoid that and even Maggie had to recognize the security in a preemptive strike.

The laundry basket dropped to the ground with an unceremonious thud. Maggie slowly turned around to face the two ghosts, her eyes settling on Shane. This wasn't the most ideal situation but nothing about the last year had been ideal, so why would it start now?

Maggie nodded sternly towards Shane. "So what's the plan?"

* * *

"You know you don't have to do this," Matt Donovan repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. Worried blue eyes glanced Maggie's way from the driver's seat of his pickup. "No one is expecting you to."

"I know," Maggie replied to him while the two drive down the road to the school district transportation lot. It was early in the morning and despite being unable to sleep most of the night, Maggie was anxiously wide awake, just trying not to show it.

"Are you sure you're even up to this? I know you just got of the hospital," Matt still seemed concerned. Normally Maggie would be a little insulted with the way he was looking at her as if she was still about to break, but she knew he meant well.

"I'm fine. But that's why I need to do this," Maggie reasoned. Mystic Falls had sacrificed numerous resources on her behalf already, she owed them this.

Matt just shook his head and shrugged while the pickup pulled past the security gate, into the parking lot. It was a little bizarre to see the place for Maggie after her last encounter there. It was more lively and active in the dawn hours.

After climbing out of the truck, Maggie followed Matt's lead to a group of people gathered around two cube-shaped delivery trucks. There were a couple of folding tables laid out with a mix of supplies, mostly water and surprisingly very little ammunition. They had a map sprawled out on the table, one of the police officers was mapping out the route the two teams were going on for that day.

"Hey everyone, this is Maggie," Matt interrupted the pow-wow to introduce everyone. "This is Adrian," He nodded towards the dark hair young man. "And Kim," He pointed out the female, which had a long curly bush of hair.

"She wants to go on the supply run with you guys," Matt declared and Maggie nodded along to confirm.

"Oh right on," Adrian grinned and held his hand out to Maggie. He seemed like the laid back type that would be easy to get along with. Maggie shook his hand.

Kim was another story. She put her hands on her hips and raised her eyebrows. "Seriously?" She questioned, sizing Maggie up and down. "You're human."

"So?" Maggie deadpanned. It peeved her a little bit to have a girl questionably younger than her criticizing her worth.

"But, we never take humans on supply runs," Kim defended, anxious they were even talking about. Adrian shrugged his shoulders, knowing that was true, but more open minded about it.

Maggie had a feeling she would get some resistance from the hybrids, but she didn't let that shake her confidence.

"Do you even know how to shoot?" Kim gestured to the guns on the table. Most of the residents in Mystic Falls hadn't left the county since the outbreak, never mind had to shoot a walker.

"Yeah, I can shoot," Maggie deadpanned at the hybrid.

Matt shifted on his feet and rubbed the back of his neck while he pointed out, "Yeah, guys. Maggie and her group have been out on their own before. About a year, right?" He glanced at Maggie to be sure.

Maggie nodded shortly.

"Really? That must have been intense," Adrian commented. Kim seemed to back off at that.

"That's one way of putting it," Maggie said carefully.

She didn't say much as the two went back to the maps. They filled her in on the route they would be going. It looked like they were going to hit a Wal-Mart about two hours south of Mystic Falls. Matt stuck around for a little bit, but once Maggie was settled in he took off. Maggie at first questioned the wisdom of hitting a large department store, since most were either picked over or still littered with walkers but the hybrids weren't worried about the walkers.

"Where's the other group heading?" Maggie asked curiously, noticing the other trucks had more than double the numbers of people going on their run.

"Toyota lot, they're going to try to get some more vehicles – hybrids preferably near Richmond," Adrian said. The look he sent to Kim made Maggie wonder how many bad hybrid jokes they've heard.

It took them about thirty minutes to load up the delivery truck. It was mostly just getting the necessary gasoline and some extra, just in case they had to take an alternate route. A duffle bag was thrown behind the seats with the guns and it was then Maggie questioned the selection of bullets.

"Wood?" She wondered aloud, holding some of them in her hands as she looked to Adrian.

He just shrugged his shoulders. "it's easier to make and come by than regular ammunition," He said simply.

Maggie nodded and went to start loading up one of the clips. It was black Beretta, like the one she remembered and suddenly it made sense where Kol had gotten her old one from.

"You're not going to actually need that though," Kim said, loading up a hunting knife on her belt.

"Excuse me?" Maggie stopped.

"You don't need a gun," Kim reached forward and took it from her hands before tossing the weapon into the bag with the others. "We'll take care of the walkers. That's just for emergencies," She said.

Maggie let out a scoff and rolled her eyes. She dropped the bullets in the bag and went to climb into the passenger seat instead. "It must be nice," She muttered. Their idea of supply runs was completely different than her group's idea. It must be nice to a hybrid and not having to worry about the walkers actually trying to bite you.

The cab of the truck had a long bench for front seats, leaving Maggie squeezed up next to the window with Kim between her and Adrian at the wheel. They left shortly thereafter.

* * *

The two hybrids fell into conversation pretty quickly with only a couple injections from Maggie. She figured out that Adrian was a few years older than her, but quiet spoken. Kim dominated most of the conversation, but she wasn't that unreasonable. She just had a complex, Maggie figured, that came from the werewolf side. She'll be friendly as long as she wasn't threatened.

Neither of one of them shared any appreciation for the sire bond. Maggie caught a few comments about them not wanting to take any more crap from Klaus. Putting it in that perspective, they were lucky to be doing supply runs instead of his personal errands.

Most of the time, Maggie just stared quietly out the window. It was oddly comforting seeing the desolate world again. The abandoned cars with the smashed windows and deep set bloodstains, the occasional rotting corpse and no promise of a future. This world she knew how to survive in, it was just the walkers and other people struggling. There wasn't anything supernatural about this.

The hybrids didn't try coaxing much conversation from her. Kim eyed up the black jacket that she wore, it didn't even look like it fit her. Maggie had a hardened expression and her personality was like a jagged rock, shaped by the extremes of her situation.

They were on the road for about forty-five minutes before the two hybrids suddenly stopped talking. More specifically, they looked at Maggie and her jacket.

The doppelganger stirred from resting her chin against her hand on the passenger door at the sudden silence. "What?" She asked, then she heard the faint humming.

"Oh, that's me," She startled, digging her hands into her pockets. She pulled out the cell phone, earning even further confused look from the hybrids. She didn't glance towards them as she took in the name on the screen. Maggie flicked open the device and held it to her ear.

"Elijah?" Maggie was admittedly a little nervous since their last conversation.

"Not quite, darling," A cheeky response came instead.

"Kol," Maggie recognized with a befuddled frown. "What are you doing with Elijah's phone?"

"Oh, I just borrowed it momentarily," The Original replied from the comfort of the living room sofa at the Mikaelson mansion. He didn't bother cleaning up the broken glass and red wine currently staining the carpet.

Maggie's eyes narrowed at the word borrowing and she was afraid to ask what that really meant in Kol terms.

Kol felt the need to explain it anyway. He glanced up towards the ceiling with a smirk on his face, hearing the water running through the pipes of the house. "Did you know he keeps it constantly in his pocket and there are very few opportunities he's not wearing his pants?"

Like when Kol started an impromptu, unnecessary argument with Rebekah that resulted in a wine bottle being thrown and Elijah sprayed by said wine.

"Um," Maggie stuttered at how wildly inappropriate that sounded. "No, I can't say I knew that… nor did I want to." She glanced towards the hybrids, whom at this point had stopped the van to gawk shamelessly. "Thanks for that," Maggie added on sarcastically.

Kol just grinned broadly from his seat, her response doing wondrous things for his ego.

Maggie ignored the imploring looks from the other two and tried to decipher the lengthy pause on Kol's end. Better yet, why the heck was he calling her?

"Where are you?" Kol suddenly asked very seriously.

Maggie sat up a little stiffer in her seat. She shook her head faintly at the hybrids to not say anything. "Why does it matter?" She countered guardedly. Now wasn't a time to be fessing up to what she was really up to.

"I suppose it doesn't," Kol mumbled thoughtfully. Maggie couldn't tell if he was talking to her or just thinking out loud. "I don't know, I just had this… feeling."

"A feeling?" Maggie repeated dubiously.

"Yes, an inkling, you know, like I need…" Kol struggled to properly describe it. Maybe it was easier to talk about it too on the phone with Maggie than the scrutiny of either of his siblings. "Something's off. I need to be somewhere."

"Where do you need to be?" Maggie asked, not understanding what brought this on. It was too early for him to be drunk, right? Heck, she never recalled seeing him actually drunk.

"I don't know," Kol murmured while his other hand absently scratched at his chest in agitation. "Just… not here," He was jumpy and almost skittish, like he had too much energy and he just had to be anywhere but here. He had to go somewhere _now_.

Maggie sighed, he wasn't exactly being coherent. How was she supposed to help him?

"You never answered my question, darling," Kol pointed out shortly, pushing the focus back on her.

"No, I didn't," Maggie danced around a straight answer.

Kol locked his jaw at her avoidance, but his eyes glanced up towards the ceiling. The water had stopped. He had to go before Elijah found out. Without word, he snapped the phone shut.

Maggie heard the dial tone on her end. "Kol?" She questioned with no response. She pulled the phone away from her phone to see the call had been ended.

"What the hell?" She muttered, not sure if she should be concerned by that conversation or not.

"How's that possible?" Kim finally spoke up, saying what was on Adrian's mind as well.

"Excuse me?" Maggie blinked while she slid the device back into her pocket.

"You have a cell phone. How?" Adrian clarified.

Maggie let out a small groan. She had to go on to explain it wasn't that great. She gave the short version of how it worked. Naturally, the hybrids got all worked up about it and were going on about mentioning it to the Council as soon as they got back. They were almost to Wal-Mart and they were still saying how they could use the witches to make more for them.

Maggie secretly wanted to strangle both of them for suggesting using Lucy and Seamus' powers for their own selfish need like that. They didn't consider how that sort of magic could be taxing on a large scale they were suggesting.

Granted, the only reason Maggie explained it at all was because she knew it wouldn't matter soon.

* * *

Her conversation with Kol and the hybrids was forgotten the moment they pulled up to the Wal-Mart. Maggie couldn't say she was entirely surprised by the state of it. There were a few abandoned cars in the parking lot, two crumpled around each other. Some of the front windows were blown out and debris was littered in the lot. A few stray walkers shuffled around without aim.

The hybrids drove the truck around to the loading bay in the back of the building. Adrian threw the vehicle into park.

Maggie resented them. She resented the way they just chitchatted so casually with the windows down and a CD playing in the stereo the whole way there, like a couple of teenagers out for a weekend drive. She hated the way they didn't even give a second glance towards the walkers or talk about a game plan. They were just going to waltz right in there because they could as hybrids.

Adrian grabbed the gun bag from behind the seat. He threw it over his shoulder while Kim slid out of the vehicle shortly after him.

"You're staying in the truck," Kim ordered upon seeing Maggie climbing out as well.

"Why?" Maggie protested, really starting to get tired of her condescending attitude.

"Because you're human," Adrian explained, trying to at least be diplomatic about it. "You could get bit."

"Sit tight and just crack the window, you'll be fine," Kim smirked at the death glare she got from Maggie.

"Not without a gun," Maggie stipulated, giving a careful glance to some of the walkers that were starting to show a little interest in their arrival.

The hybrids exchanged a hesitant look. Adrian nodded towards the closest walkers, which were still a good five minute shuffle away from even approaching them.

"Fine," Kim snapped out reluctantly. She reached into the bag on Adrian's shoulder to pull out a Beretta fitted with a silencer.

"Just try not to shoot yourself in the foot with it," She handed the gun over to Maggie.

Maggie held back the colorful curses under her breath while the two hybrids went for the doors. She slid back into the cab of the truck. She glared daggers at the back of Kim's head. While they were inside, Maggie checked the clip in the Beretta. It was fully loaded with wooden bullets at least.

As she waited, she rolled down the window only to take out two walkers that got a little closer than she cared for. Her aim wasn't as perfect as it was when she was a vampire, but it was still good enough to get clear headshots on the first try.

When the hybrids came back outside, Kim was pushing a full cart that had canned goods unceremoniously dumped into it. Adrian had a pack of some sports drink over his shoulder. Maggie stepped out of the cab to open the back latch for them. The metal of the door track rattled while the bellow of the truck opened up.

"Just a couple of strays inside," Adrian answered the unspoken question in the air. "But there's still some inventory left in the back that the other looters must've looked over because of the rotten produce."

Maggie cringed slightly at the thought of how bad that smell must have been. She just gave a nod and watched the hybrids load up the supplies. It was almost comical to see Adrian hop up inside the truck and Kim pass the entire shopping cart up to him without breaking a sweat.

Maggie waited by the truck while the hybrids went back inside for a few more trips. It was a little after noon when they were placing the last palette of supplies in the truck. It was only half full, but that would do.

"That should about do it," Adrian said well stepping down, brushing his hands off. Maggie casually stepped back from the two, making it look like she was giving them room. She kept the Beretta in her hand in the entire time. They didn't think anything of it, especially with the way she was constantly looking around for walkers.

"Hey, we can even get back for first dinner serving," Kim piped up, putting on one of the few genuine smiles of the day while she pulled the latch down on the door.

Maggie's lip curled in disgust at her blasé attitude. Without batting an eye, she casually raised the Beretta to the back of Kim's head. There was a soft pop in the air before the rattle of metal from Kim's body falling forward against the truck.

Adrian's head lifted up from tying off the door. "Oh shit, what the –" Another soft pop in the air silenced him. His head jerked back and blood splattered against the pavement and white paint of the vehicle. His body dropped down next to Kim's.

It would be really easy to just get into the cab and drive away now, Maggie realized. By the time they woke up, she would be half way to Georgia. But, that would mean she would have to deal with them later. They would go running back to the Counsel and create another problem for her.

It was because of that simple ruthless fact, Maggie stepped up closer to the bodies. It seemed less personal to be staring at the back of a half blown open skull and a mess of hair. It was just a cluster of bone fragments and blood, instead of pitiful pleading for their lives.

"You people don't have a goddamn clue what it's really like out here," She muttered in disgust. They didn't know what it was like to live day to day, to be afraid of making too much noise or even sneezing at the wrong time, to fight for every inch of safety they could find.

Maggie tucked the Beretta into the waist of her jeans. Wood through the heart was enough to kill a vampire, but not a hybrid. Because of that, Maggie was left with one other option. She pulled out the hunting knife and kneeled down between the bodies.

Kim would be the one to lose her head first, Maggie decided.

* * *

Maggie opened the driver's side door and climbed into the seat. She didn't even glance into the side mirror at what she had done. The red stain on her hands was enough evidence. A bit of it had even splattered on her face from when she severed an artery. Any disgust was erased from her expression, along with every other emotion.

It was rather anticlimactic when it was over. She thought it would be a little more… special or something. But their bodies looked just like the other ones, even after they greyed and ash over. In the end, taking a life stirred nothing more from her than putting down another walker.

Maybe Kol was right, it did lose its luster.

"Well, look who finally learned to make the tough decisions," Shane spoke up from the passenger seat.

Maggie's grip on the wheel tightened momentarily. The ghost was stretched out in the seat casually, his eyes taking no shame in where they wandered. Shane made her skin crawl on the best of days.

She calmly reached down to the ignition and started the engine, instead of humoring him with a response.

But he wasn't going to go away and they had a long road ahead of them.

"I've killed six people, Shane, and I would do it again if I had to," Maggie declared as they were pulling out of the parking lot in a flat tone. She kept her eyes on the road before her tone took on a venomous hiss, "You think shooting one punk kid makes you tough?" She always hated the way he pushed Rick to make the tough calls.

Her gaze drew slowly to Shane, like the leveling of a barrel to someone's heart. "Or should we talk about Otis?"

Shane's mouth clamped shut as a quick as a live trap. His nostrils flared and she could tell he was about say it wasn't like that again, but he kept it to himself.

Maggie looked back to the road, making sure they were back tracking to the right highway.

Several minutes went by before Shane finally spoke again, "Did you really kill six people?"

He had been filled in a little bit by Mikael on what was going on, but he really had no idea what the group had been up to since the night they fled the farm. He constantly wandered the farm from the Other Side, hoping they would come back. Truthfully, he hadn't even realized how much time passed, it was different for the dead.

Maggie nodded.

"Andrew was the first one," Maggie recalled the boy's name. "I broke his arms first and then I put a bullet in his head. I put another bullet in another man's head with his gun, his own finger pulled the trigger."

Shane's eyes widened while Maggie spoke, as if she was calmly recalling the weather for the past week. This wasn't the shaky little thing that followed Glenn around the farm for a haystack rump that he remembered. There was something lethal and inhumane about this woman.

"The other I watched choke on his own blood before I ripped his heart from his chest. Then I broke his friend's leg, just to watch him crawl through the dirt to get away from me before I ripped out his throat." Images of the campsite massacre with Kol flashed through her mind. It seemed like a different person did those things now, but she knew it was still her.

Maggie gave a side shrug of her shoulders, "And the rest are a bit of a blur, but they lost their throats too."

Shane's mouth hung open a little bit while he stared at Maggie. His cocky self-assured confidence was nowhere to be seen. At first, he thought that she had to be making this up, but what a fucked up thing to lie about.

He was silent for several minutes while he tried to wrap his head around that. He struggled to picture Maggie doing any of those things.

"How did you rip out their throats?" Shane almost hated himself for asking, but it was too much.

Maggie just looked at him and answered flatly, "With my teeth."

* * *

If it was up to Maggie, they would drive to Georgia in silence. But Maggie knew that was impossible. Shane had to disappear at times to scout ahead, to make sure the highway was clear. She didn't bother asking how exactly time and spaced moved for ghosts.

Her curiosity got the best of her after they left Virginia.

"Mikael said you had the werewolf gene…" Maggie began the conversation, still floored at trying to imagine Shane sprouting fur and howling at the moon every month.

"Yeah, I didn't really believe it at first… But that's why I've been stuck on this side, he's the first person that's been able to see me. The first person I could talk to," Shane admitted, it was clear in his eyes just how much being stuck alone on the Other Side affected him.

Maggie wasn't sympathetic to him though. This was the same man she slapped and told him to never lay a hand on her father.

"Then that means, when you killed Randall… the next full moon," Maggie's voice trailed. She didn't personally know any werewolves, but she knew how it went.

"I would have turned," Shane finished for her bluntly. "Yeah."

"And probably killed us all," Maggie concluded, having heard the stories about the old Lockwood cellars.

Shane just nodded shortly. Once he got past the supernatural shock with Mikael, that frightening truth stared at him in the face the way that Maggie was right now.

"Good thing Rick killed you that night then," Maggie decided unsympathetically.

Maggie had to ask the biggest question on her mind when she pulled over for a few minutes to munch on a few stale power bars and rehydrate.

"Why are you doing this?" Maggie wondered how the Original had convinced Shane to go with this plan at all.

Shane looked more huddled in his corner of the cab than sprawled out like he was before. It seemed ironic that she could make a ghost uncomfortable with her presence.

"He told me that you could help me," Shane said quietly from behind his hand, his elbow leaning on the window frame of the door.

"Help you?" Maggie scoffed, putting her food down to make sure there was no mistaking what she said next. "News flash, Shane, I don't like you. I don't particularly feel bad for you either and I sure as hell don't trust you. So tell me why I would help you?"

"I don't know," Shane didn't have an answer for when she put it like that. "I know you don't owe me anything. I just thought…"

"You thought what?" Maggie hissed, really wanting to know the truth of this.

Shane cleared his throat and sat up a little straighter in his seat. "Mikael told me that if I helped you get to Georgia and back alive… you could help me talk to Rick, Lori and Carl. Pass along a message to them."

It clicked to Maggie then and she had to give Mikael credit. He managed to play off of Shane's guilt complex and desperation to make contact with anyone after being isolated for so long.

"Haven't you done enough to them?" Maggie accused.

* * *

"I don't believe you," Maggie declared to Shane. She had listened to him for the last half hour go on about his regrets.

Apparently he wasn't himself when he went after Rick. He went on how he wasn't sound of mind, but to Maggie, Rick had given him every opportunity and he still pushed him to the breaking point.

On the surface, he really did look like a broken man that had lost everything. The problem was, it was never his to have in the first place. He had no right going after Lori and Carl, then trying to get Rick out of the way, as if he was the one that didn't belong.

"Will you at least consider speaking to them for me?" Shane pleaded, he actually pleaded with Maggie. Groveling wasn't a good look for him.

Maggie sighed. Maybe it was being stuck in the stuffy cab with him for hours that worn her down. "I'll think about talking to Rick and Carl," She conceded and that was the best he would get from her.

"And Lori," Shane reaffirmed with a little hope in his voice.

Then it occurred to Maggie.

She felt her stomach lurch and she looked to Shane with wide eyes. "You don't know?" She questioned.

Shane frowned at her alarmed expression. "Know what?"

If they weren't driving on a desolate countryside road with zero life, Maggie would have been worried about swerving from how long she stared at Shane before answering, "Lori's dead."

"What?" It sounded like someone had punched Shane in the stomach.

Maggie swallowed before nodding, "Carl put her down before she turned."

* * *

Shane disappeared from the truck for a long time after that. Maggie imagined he was somewhere on the Other Side having a moment. She kind of hoped that he was breaking into a million pieces, bawling like the pathetic man that he was. She couldn't deny the twisted part of her that enjoyed telling him how Lori died, because just for a moment he would feel the pain that he caused the rest of the group.

And for a fleeting moment while Maggie was telling him, she actually did pity him.

But that pity didn't last long. He ruined it when he came back to the cab, nearly startling her with how he appeared in just a blink.

"And the baby, did it…?" Shane struggled to ask, having the horrific scene painted in his mind.

"Judith," Maggie gave the only silver lining in it all. "Her name is Judith, she's healthy and strong."

Maggie let Shane have his few moments of relief at that news. What he said after that made her hate him even more though.

"Lori told me…" Shane began hesitantly, ruffling the scruff of hair he had in the process. "That she didn't know if it was mine or Rick's…"

"You are not her father," Maggie spat at him. He would never be a father to that child, even if he was alive she would never allow Shane near her.

"No, that's not what I mean," Shane saw the way she was taking it. He shook his head, "I'm just saying if there's a chance she's like me…"

"Like you?" Maggie repeated the odd implication. Then she remembered, "You mean a werewolf?"

Shane nodded. "There's one way we would know for sure if she's like me," He pointed out.

Maggie racked her brain for what she knew about werewolves. The truck brakes screeched as she slammed the vehicle to a halt.

She couldn't believe the nerve of him. The only true way to know about a werewolf would be for them to kill someone and trigger the curse. To even suggest that of a child!

"Enough!" Maggie shouted and turned in her seat, waving a threatening finger in his direction. "Now, you listen to me and you listen to me good. You are _not_ her father and you will never be. I will make damn sure that she _never_ has to find out if she's like you or not. You are _nothing_ to her."

She was so livid she didn't even bother waiting for him to respond. Maggie grinded her teeth together and waved her hand at him, like trying to swat away a pest. Using the technique Jeremy taught her to send a ghost away, he disappeared in an instant.

* * *

Having Shane gone was a relief. Maggie was never so glad to hear nothing but the grumbling of the truck engine and the rubbing of the tires against the highway. For the first time she started on this journey, she was able to just think without having any ghost hanging over her shoulder.

It took her a while to calm down, but she did. There was nothing there to feed into her anger. Each stretch of highway wasn't remarkably different than the rest. Once she got past the festering point, the time she spent with venomous thoughts running through her head, she simmered down.

Then she was left wondering what in the hell she was doing.

It gave her a moment of clarity, looking back on this plan she and Shane concocted. She started thinking about her choice in company. Was that the type of person that she was becoming? Someone holding onto something that wasn't really theirs to begin with? She supposed someone could argue she was holding onto a past life that was impossible to obtain. She was making the tough call to kill Klaus because someone had to, even if that meant making her the villain to keep everyone else safe.

And look what it was pushing her to do. Lying and sneaking away from everyone, her family and especially Kol. Killing two people. She had done that before, but she always hid behind the excuse it was the vampire nature that made her do it. This time, she just straight up killed two people who had done her no wrong other than being the ones in her way. Was she really that much better than Shane killing Randall?

And Mikael. Maggie felt sick realizing she was working with the very man that caused Kol to unravel in her arms. Granted, they both wanted the same thing; Klaus dead. The hybrid had killed Glenn and even her and Carol in the past life. But Maggie was starting to wonder if this really was the best means to accomplish that.

Maggie glanced in the side mirror at herself and had no idea who it was that was staring back at her.

The truck slowed to a stop about an hour out from her destination, not because of the doubts Maggie was having, but the cars littered on the highway. With a sigh, Maggie cut the engine and climbed out of the vehicle.

It was largely quiet, but Maggie kept the Beretta in her hand anyway. "Damnit, Shane," Maggie said aloud, letting her mental guard down enough for the ghost to return. "I thought you said this way was clear."

"Clear from walkers," Shane corrected. Maggie glanced over her shoulder to see the ghost leaning back against the grill of the truck. His arms were folded over his chest, his expression still laced with hostility from earlier, but at least he was speaking.

"It's just a couple of cars. Nothing we haven't handled before," Shane said, knowing how many hours they spent popping abandoned cars into neutral and rolling them off the road so they could pass. "I would help, but…" His voice trailed sarcastically.

Maggie glared at the ghost. "Just watch my back for walkers," She hissed. They both knew if she got bit, then Shane could kiss goodbye any hope of being able to talk to Rick or Carl.

Sweat dripped down her face shortly after. It wasn't a pleasant or easy process. First Maggie grabbed a crow bar from the back of the truck, for the vehicles that were actually locked. Most of them weren't, but instead they were scorching from the intensity of the sun and stagnate with decay and must. Once she popped it into neutral, it was only Maggie left to push on the bumper to get the vehicle rolling enough off the highway for her truck to pass.

The noise of the vehicles rolling off into a ditch or another vehicle drew the attention of a few walkers. For how much she hated Shane, he was a good spotter. He was calm and concise in his warnings, leaving Maggie enough time to level the gun and take out the walkers before they got too close.

Of course, her luck ran out when she was on her last vehicle.

"Hey, get down. We got one coming in hot," Shane spoke up, gesturing his hand for Maggie to get down behind the driver's door of the small Sudan.

Without question, Maggie dropped the crow bar and followed his order. She crouched down with both hands grasping the Beretta. She was just confused by what he meant.

"A walker?" Maggie whispered up to the ghost. They typically didn't move very fast. Shane stood on the other side of the open door, watching back on the highway towards the white delivery truck.

"No, human," Shane answered, keeping his eyes on the fast approaching vehicle. Last he checked, walkers didn't learn how to drive. The shine of the paint job gleamed harshly in the sunlight.

"Too late, they already saw you," Shane realized, seeing that the SUV was making straight for the white delivery truck.

Maggie let out a swear, she could hear the rolling of the tires against the pavement. They were getting too close for her to make a run for the truck. Hiding and waiting for them to pass wasn't any option now.

She rose up enough to see through the open window of the door. She leveled the Beretta out in front of her defensively while she squinted to get a better look at the vehicle.

It was a black SUV that seemed way to be clean to be out in this sun faded barren part of the country. It slowed down to a stop right next to the delivery truck. Maggie noted that it seemed to just be one lone vehicle with Virginia plates, but the glare of the sun made it impossible for her to see who was inside.

Wait, Virginia plates?

She knew that SUV looked familiar and only a small number of people would climb out of it. The driver's door opened and he stepped out swiftly. His eyes darted over the delivery truck, briefly noting the spray of blood on the back doors and the plate numbers.

"You know this guy?" Shane questioned Maggie, seeing the doppelganger lower her weapon and stand up. But she didn't bother answering him.

She wasn't sure whether to be relieved or whether she was in more trouble or not.

She kept the Beretta in one hand loosely by her side as she approached the two vehicles. Despite her obvious weapon, he didn't seem threatened. If anything, he was dressed rather casually in a pair of jeans and a button up shirt too, as if he hadn't just driven several hours out of his way.

"Kol?" Maggie wondered aloud, "What are you doing here?"

This time she didn't get a cheeky smirk or smile. If anything, his dark features seemed sharper in contrast to bright sun.

"I was rather inclined to ask you the same question, darling," Kol replied to her, his eyes passing over her state suspiciously.

Maggie stopped a few feet away from him, truthfully unsure how to answer him. She could sense Shane a few steps behind her, but she knew Kol couldn't see him.

"Your disappearance is causing quite the stir I imagine with the Counsel," Kol thought aloud, drawing his tone out in almost a taunting manner.

"I take it that was your handy work with the hybrids?" Kol sounded more intrigued than accusing while he stepped up to Maggie.

Maggie just managed a curt nod, not trusting her voice.

Kol didn't need her answer though, he could smell the hybrid blood on the truck when he stepped out of the SUV.

"I was curious when you refused to tell me where you were. But this…" He glanced around them and vaguely pointed towards the delivery truck. "_This_ I find fascinating."

Maggie bit her lip anxiously, slowly tucking the Beretta into her waist band. It wasn't that she felt particularly safe at the moment, but she knew if he wanted her dead there wasn't a damn thing she could do about it out here.

Well, if she wasn't going to speak, he would provide his own theories then.

"Taking off towards Georgia? I would be inclined to think you were feeling a little homesick," Kol mused aloud, stepping back to look at the delivery truck.

"But, then killing two hybrids and taking all those supplies, it doesn't look like you were planning on going back." He stated. There was enough gasoline, food and ammunition for her to hold her own for a while, but only a while. It was hardly a long term survival plan.

"Maggie, just tell him you were feeling nostalgic. Go back and we can re-group, figure out a new plan," Shane hissed towards her. Even the ghost seemed anxious by the Original's presence, but he was mostly feeding off of Maggie's energy.

It would be a good excuse, Maggie figured. She could beg her apologies and slink back to Mystic Falls.

"But, then you left your family back in Mystic Falls." A smirk pulled up on Kol's features with a knowing tone. "No, you wouldn't leave them behind. You're too loyal for that. Which would mean you plan on returning after whatever this is you're trying to do."

Kol stepped closer to Maggie, going almost nose to nose to her, but staring down at her because of his height. The smirk disappeared into a commanding tone, "Which leaves me back to wondering… What are you doing?"

"How did you find me?" Maggie countered instead, wondering how it was that of all the highways in Georgia he happened to pick the one that she was on.

Kol eyes' narrowed briefly before he gave a casual confident shrug of his shoulders. "I'm nature's greatest predator," He declared boastfully before the good humor was gone in a blink.

"You're the prey. Stop deflecting, sweetheart." There was nothing sweet about the way he said the pet name.

For a moment, Maggie genuinely worried about what sort of prey she could become. She swallowed down the lump in her throat before taking a step back from Kol to put some distance between them. She looked towards the truck and therefore the way back to Mystic Falls.

"You followed me this far, right?" She finally spoke. Kol inclined his head slightly. Maggie gave a jerk of her head towards the opposite direction. "Then follow me a little further and I'll show you."

Kol cocked his head with intrigue at that suggestion.

Meanwhile, Shane's jaw dropped a little bit. Maggie ignored him and stepped around Kol to march towards the vehicles. "Come on," She urged.

"What are you doing? This isn't part of the plan," Shane hissed into Maggie's ear, following after her. He didn't know what to make of this change of events.

"Screw the plan," Maggie muttered under her breath.

* * *

For the sake of conserving gasoline, they opted to leave the delivery truck behind momentarily. Maggie parked it off the road, out of immediate sight and they locked it up. Kol was surprisingly complacent when it came to helping and assisting in what it took to get moving on the road again. He helped her moved the necessary supplies over into the SUV. He stopped and asked her about the amount of gasoline she was grabbing for a supposedly short trip, but Maggie insisted on it.

The remaining drive was admittedly tense, but thankfully short. Neither one of them said much of anything to the other. They were silently trying to figure the other one out. For Maggie, she wasn't convinced with his excuse and wondered how it was that he found her, or why he did. For Kol, he was left wondering what she was really up to. This situation was much different than their playful and sexual interactions from before, it was serious now.

It unnerved Maggie sitting in the driver's seat. Kol only relented the wheel since she knew where she was going, which left him able opportunity to stare at her while she had to keep her eyes on the road.

"I know you lied to me," Kol blurted out suddenly.

"What?" Maggie's hand jerked a little on the wheel and she felt her heart skip a beat. Which time?

"I know you were lying to me," He repeated more clearly, "The first day we met."

The way she looked at him, that wasn't the way you looked at someone you just met or had heard a few rumors from. There was more to it, and it was obvious now in the way that Maggie looked like a deer caught in headlights. Her erratic heartbeat wasn't making her case any better.

Maggie just bit her lip and shook her head. How could she tell him now? Everything about his demeanor screamed that she was walking a thin line.

"Everyone has their secrets, Kol," She murmured quietly, not just trying to avoid answering his question, but pleading with him.

Kol frowned a little bit at the way her eyes were begging him to understand something that he didn't.

"That we do," He agreed. He had his share of secrets, even ones that related to her and her ancestor Rosemarie. It was the type of secrets that got him daggered for a century.

"But I will find out what yours are," He promised her.

* * *

"We're here," Maggie announced, pulling off the one lane highway when she came across her mailbox. It was rusted out and almost overgrown with foliage, but she still knew exactly where it was.

Kol dropped his feet from the dashboard and perked up in his seat considerably. The last twenty minutes of the drive was silent, even silent of the whisperings from Shane. But that was because Maggie got tired of listening to the ghost and sent him away.

His eyes darted around in a calculating manner. Maggie never told him where exactly it was that they were going, never mind what they were going to find. He hadn't thought she was actually returning home, but the long gravel driveway drew his curiosity.

There was another long five minutes of just driving through the large Greene family property. They drove through the fields, which were barren with just wild grass, dry and deprived of rain. There were no horses or cows grazing in the pastures, the ones that had been were nothing but wrecked carnage from walkers ripping into them.

"What is this place?" Kol questioned, getting impatient from her quiet demeanor.

"My family's farmland," Maggie answered simply and turned the wheel. The SUV jostled as it pulled off the gravel road onto the raw grass hill.

It was when Maggie pointed the vehicle towards their target did Kol lean up forward in his seat, placing his hands against the dashboard. His eyes fixated on the massive tree at the top of the hill. It's broad branches grappled towards the sky with life.

And it was the deadliest thing he had ever seen.

"Is that?" He didn't finish because he didn't really need to ask.

"Yeah," Maggie replied shortly while she cut the engine and climbed out of the vehicle. Her heart was hammering out of her chest, just waiting for his reaction. The last time, he had his hand wrapped around her throat just as the suggestion. Now, he wasn't given any sort of warning.

Kol was slower to get out of the vehicle than Maggie. His mouth hung open a little while his eyes passed over the White Oak tree. The breeze rustled the leaves, like fingers beckoning towards him to come closer if he dared.

Maggie stepped up closer to the tree, but still kept a respectable distance. Her hands were quietly stuffed in the pockets of Kol's jacket while she stared at the old oak. Mentally, she was saying her apologies to her mother for what she was going to do to her tree.

Kol remained back by the SUV. His hand trailed lightly from closing the door to along the hood of the vehicle. If Maggie didn't know better, he was doing for support from shock.

"I don't understand," Kol finally spoke after an immeasurable amount of time. "How?"

"I don't really know how the tree was planted here," Maggie said truthfully. She turned to look at Kol, a little relieved to not have her neck snapped yet. He looked too stunned to be hostile, for now.

"But…" Kol fumbled numbly on the words. "How did you know what it was?" They had burned every tree they found for a reason. The only painting they kept was Niklaus', just to make sure they would never forget.

"Mikael," Maggie admitted simply. It wasn't completely a lie, she wouldn't have thought of the tree if it wasn't for him and he made sure it was still standing.

"Mikael… As in, my father?" Kol blanched on the words.

Maggie nodded.

"He's the ghost you've been seeing?" He recalled what Maggie had said at the card night.

"He's not the only one," Maggie began fessing up to the truth. "I've been seeing your mother, too."

Kol started to recover from his shock, but molding that into a stern glare as she kept going. He took slow deliberate steps towards her.

"I didn't know what else to do," Maggie began to plead her case. "Esther wanted me to help her, to use me against your family. But I didn't want to and I was afraid of what she would do to me… So I made a deal with Mikael."

"What sort of deal?" Kol's voice came out like a low growl between his teeth.

"Mikael would keep Esther away from me if I agreed to use the White Oak-" Maggie didn't get to finish her words, they were cut off by a forced gasp from the fingers wrapped around her throat.

Her hands shot to Kol's wrist, trying to pull his hand away from her. His grasp forced her jaw up and Maggie to rise up on her toes.

"You were going to use this tree against me and my family?!" Kol snarled out harshly, his eyes flashing dangerously and looking inhumane in that moment.

"No! Not you," Maggie gasped out, her voice croaking from the pressure on her esophagus.

Kol's eyes narrowed suspiciously. "Explain," He ordered bluntly. "And I suggest quickly, humans have a tendency to asphyxiate." His grip on her neck didn't lighten.

"It was supposed to be just Klaus," Maggie rushed out the first breath, but the next ones were ragged, forcing her words to be rough and choppy. "For revenge, for what he did to my family. But I can't do it, Kol."

"Why not?" Kol snapped out sharply, finding it mighty convenient of her to have a change of heart now.

"Because of you. And Elijah. And Rebekah," Maggie forced each name passed her lips, despite the way she could feel herself getting lightheaded. Flickers of spots started to show in her vision and it wasn't from the sunlight. "You hate Klaus now, but you would hate me more for killing him later."

No matter how much they despised what Klaus had done to each of them, they were still family. They might be okay with it today, but someday the three of them would come to resent her and Maggie knew it.

Maggie's fingers slipped off of Kol's hands and she could feel her eyes starting to lull shut. She tried to force herself on Kol's face. In a way, it reminded her of the last time she had seen him, before everything went wrong. There was a fine line between falling to pieces and falling blind into rage.

Her knees gave out before her and Maggie dropped to the ground. The impact jarred her bones and she tasted dirt in her mouth before she gasped for her first unhindered breath. Her shoulders shuddered from trying to refill her lungs, blinking away the dizziness.

She pushed herself up onto on fours and looked up. Kol wasn't standing over her though. He paced away from her and had his hands wrung through his hair. The frustration was obvious in his body language and the growl she heard from him.

"Besides," Maggie found her voice again. "I don't care how much of a bastard he is, no one deserves putting up with your psychotic parents on the Other Side."

She couldn't see the way Kol's lips quirked up momentarily at her comment before it disappeared.

Maggie coughed a few times before she felt her heart rate get back to normal. At least, normal for being slightly terrified and out of her mind.

Instead of waiting for Kol to recover from being completely overwhelmed by this, Maggie pushed herself up to her feet. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the SUV keys.

A beeping noise caused Kol to turn around. At first, he thought she was trying to make a run for it. But instead, she popped the trunk open instead.

"What are you doing?" Kol asked her when he saw her marching determinedly with a red plastic canister in one hand.

"What I should have done from the beginning," Maggie responded, snapping off the lid to the gasoline container.

The idea had crossed Kol's mind immediately, but thanks to his new humanity ridden state, his emotions got the best of him. Now, he was almost awestruck to see Maggie taking control of the situation and doing what he wanted to. Maybe she really did have a change of heart.

Kol kept a few yards back while she went straight up to the base of the tree. He watched the young doppelganger spray the tree with the fuel, covering as much as she could reach. Maggie paused momentarily to murmur an apology to a memorial placard at the trunk. Only once the canister was empty did Maggie let it drop to the ground and take a few steps back.

The sharp stench of the fuel was thick on his senses.

He stood next to her while Maggie reached into her pocket and pulled out a matchbook. "He should have known," Maggie murmured to herself while she pulled out a match. It seemed so innocent and clean with the straight lines and the taunting red bulb.

"Known what?" Kol reminded her that he was still standing there.

Maggie flicked the match against the lighter strip and held the single flame up in front of her for a thoughtful moment. "I've never been good at keeping promises," She declared. If he had been watching all this time, he would know she didn't keep them to Damon, to Kol and now Mikael.

Maggie threw the match at the tree. The flames caught before it touched the trunk.

Kol took a slight step back as the heat rose with the burst of flames. Even Maggie squinted, feeling the heat on her face while she watched the fire spread up the trunk of the tree and into the branches.

Kol took several slow steps back, getting a vision of Maggie standing before this great oak tree succumbing to the fire. He felt subdued by every little bit of the tree that burned. It was a little less that could threaten him and his family.

Moreover, he stared in awe at it. The last time he had burned a tree like this was three hundred years ago. But yet, he had never done it with the company like Maggie's. His siblings hooted and hollered like the animals they were the first time and again later when they burned the others out of vengeance.

Maggie was silent as a trap though. Her shoulders were stiff and she kept her hands in her pockets while she watched the flames. Her expression wasn't racked with sobs this time. Sorrowful eyes watched the flames burn her mother's tree for the second time. The tears did roll down her cheeks, but they were unhindered and unnoticed. She felt a little deader inside because she had grieved for this before and because of that, she felt a little number to the pain.

"I'm going to have a little chat with Elijah and Niklaus about this when we get back," Kol decided. He ruled Rebekah out simply because she would never have the forethought or independence to pull something this reckless against their family.

"Niklaus?" Maggie startled at what he was implying. "He's back in Mystic Falls?"

Kol shrugged his shoulders. "If he isn't already, he will be soon."

Maggie's eyes widened and Kol caught her alarmed look. For how stubborn and strong she could be at times, she could naïve at others.

"Two of Niklaus' _precious_ hybrids are dead," Kol sneered the terms mockingly before putting it frankly for Maggie, "What do you think he's going to do about that? It's only a matter of time before he comes running back to Mystic Falls."

Maggie bit her lip and stared back at the oak tree, thinking it looked even more like a death sentence to her now.

Great, now she would have Esther, Mikael and Niklaus to deal with.

"Come on," Maggie changed the subject and took a step towards the farmhouse in the distance. "I want to get a few things before we go."

* * *

They moved the SUV down to the farmhouse. It made Maggie's stomach twist when the vehicle bounced up and down from the walker corpses they had to drive over in order to get near the house. It was just as desolate as the last time she was here. It unnerved her to be able to pick out exactly the way things were before, down to the same tracks in the field, the burnt timbers of the barn and the trashed state of the farm house.

She didn't dwell on the house as much as this time. It still hurt like hell though to walk through the house. It left her reeling. If the déjà vu was bad the first time, picturing the way the house used to look growing up and how it looked now, it was even worse this time because she knew what the rooms would look like before she entered them.

Kol hung inside the house more this time, which Maggie found a little surprising. If anything, he was quieter and lingered longer. He still helped with the boxes under the stairs and taking the suitcases out to the SUV. But this time, Maggie had to ask him to search the RV outside. More importantly, he followed her upstairs when she packed her things from the bedroom. He didn't say much, but his presence was there. He would walk around each of the rooms, silently noticing the details and the personal items.

In her bedroom, Kol picked up a photograph sitting on her dresser. "Who's this?" He asked, he was willing to venture a guess to the young infant, but not the one holding her.

"My mother," Maggie answered shortly while she zipped up her suitcase on her bed.

Kol squinted at the picture. He could see the resemblance a little now that she pointed it out. He realized that must be who she was apologizing to at the tree. "How did she die?" He asked curiously while Maggie was stuffing a few extra clothes in the outside pockets.

Her hand paused on the heavy fabric and she took a deep breath. She closed her eyes a moment before answering him, "Leukemia."

He was willing to bet good money that it was the same kind Maggie had been recently diagnosed with.

His eyes flickered up to her briefly, but he couldn't see her face since she had her back to him. Carefully, he set the picture frame back on the dresser while a mixture of emotions passed through him. His nerves were already shot from the day, hunting Maggie down here and then being thrown by the latest revelation.

The latest emotion he felt wasn't one that he particularly enjoyed. It made him uncomfortable, which is why his next words were strained and low, "I'm sorry."

Maggie heard him and almost shrugged it off as one of the many automatic condolences that she got, but she halted. She blinked in confusion and stood up properly to turn to him. But she only saw his back through the doorway, going down the hallway to the stairs.

Maggie frowned, that was the second time she noticed something extremely off about Kol this trip. When did he ever apologize for anything?

* * *

The third time she noticed something off about Kol was when they were putting the last boxes in the SUV.

"That's it," Maggie declared, brushing her hands off. She glanced up to the broken down home reluctantly.

She expected Kol to lean out of the back, after he placed the last box in its place, so he could close the hatch. She just wanted to get away from this place. She felt like a ghost that didn't belong here.

Instead, he grabbed one of the still full red canisters.

"Whoa, hey," Maggie spoke suddenly, when Kol started to walk away from her and towards the house. "What are you doing?"

Kol gave her a genuinely confused look. "We're going to burn it…" His voice trailed and then he added hesitantly when he saw Maggie's offended expression, "Aren't we?"

"No, Kol. That's my house!" Maggie gasped and stepped in the way to block his path, not that it would do much good if he was really determined.

But he wasn't, his expression furrowed into deeper confusion. His gaze dropped to the ground while he tried to make sense of his thoughts. "But…" The words came to him, but they didn't feel like his, "There's nothing left for you here."

Maggie paled at how much his words hit home and he didn't even seem to realize it. He was right. There was nothing left for her here, but burning this place down the first time was one of the many selfish things she did.

"You're right, there isn't anything left for me here now," Maggie admitted, but still refused to move out of the way. It unnerved Maggie further at how Kol stared at her at a complete loss. He was supposed to be the confident, self-assured Original.

"But someday, there will be something here for my family again," Maggie explained. "Maybe not tomorrow or even ten years from now, but someday. They will come back… if for no other reason to prove just because the world went to shit, we didn't let it take us down with it."

She tried not to look over at the RV parked next to the burnt out barn. She tried not to remember the old man in the Hawaiian shirt and floppy hat that had once told themselves very similar.

Kol didn't say anything. Her words struck him, but so did the thought of watching the place burn. He could imagine the heat coming off the building, the paint chipping away and the glass breaking from the pressure. He could also smell her tears.

But instead, he wasn't looking at that. Instead, Maggie reached forward to him slowly and pried the red canister from his hand, trying to be reassuring but also not startling a wild animal. "Let's just go, okay?" Maggie suggested in a soft voice.

* * *

To say Maggie was a little freaked out by their conversation outside the farmhouse was an understatement. She tried not to let her thoughts run wild and get the best of her, but how could she not? It was why Maggie spent a good time sitting in the passenger seat, staring at Kol and trying to figure out what was going on.

He could feel her stare on her and occasionally gave her a look, as if to say 'What are you staring at?'

After about the third time, she could tell that he was getting a little agitated by it.

"Why did you think I wanted to burn my house?" Maggie asked bluntly.

Kol's knuckles drew a little whiter on the steering wheel. "I don't know," He said quickly, refusing to look away from the road.

"You… don't know?" Maggie drew out the words purposefully showing she didn't believe him nor would she let it go easily.

He shrugged his shoulders. "It just seemed like a good idea at the time," He tried to excuse.

"How?" Maggie pressed. That was a twisted sense of a good idea if she ever heard one.

Kol remained silent and still refused to answer for a long while. Maggie figured he was ignoring her.

With a frustrated sigh, she sank back in her seat with her arms folded over her chest. She let her gaze wander aimlessly out the window, the trees blurring past them as Kol drove north.

"Fire," Kol declared, briefly licking his lips with uncertainty before continuing, "That was the last thing I remember about being human. It was the last thing we did together as a family." An entire family, he meant, not just a few.

Maggie turned her head to Kol, but didn't dare interrupt him.

"It was Henrik's funeral. There was a pyre. I don't really remember much of what we did or what was said," Kol recalled, his expression twisting with struggling to remember. There were very few things he could remember about being human. "But I remember the flames, the smoke and the fire."

"And then it was the last thing all my siblings did together less than a fortnight later. We burned the Great White Oak tree down in the center of our village," Kol did remember how liberating it felt to destroy the one thing that could kill them. In the confusion and terror their transition caused, that was the first moment he felt invincible.

Pulling his thoughts back to the present day and remembering Maggie's question, he gave a weak shrug of his shoulders. "I just thought…" His voice trailed.

"I understand," Maggie finished for him. She got what he was trying to say.

How much she believed, she wasn't sure. She didn't doubt that he was telling the truth about his family, but Maggie wondered if that was really the reason why he suggested burning the house. To any other person, it seemed like a completely legitimate connection to make. But for Maggie, it left her more confused than before because she would have to accept one of two possible truths to believe him.

One, she would have to accept in some capacity or another Kol was remembering something that didn't happen. And Lucy had told her there was no way of going back to what happened before.

Or the second, Kol was genuinely expressing his experience as a human and relating it to Maggie's. He was sympathizing with her, like he did in the bedroom. Coming from the notoriously ruthless Original with no respect for mortality, she had a hard time swallowing that one as well.

* * *

The tension in shifted in the vehicle as the miles dragged by. Maggie realized the reason why Kol was still tense and angry wasn't necessarily because of her. To an extent, some of it was because he knew to some degree she had originally planned to use the white oak against a member of his family. But he wasn't an illogical idiot, once he got over his anger he recognized she was a pawn in this scheme of his parents.

Maggie was left thinking about their bizarre relationship. They were more than just acquaintances, but she wasn't sure if she would consider it an alliance either. She ended up working with him out of necessity than choice this time.

When they got back to the delivery truck, they took some time to hook up the SUV to the hitch of the truck and opted to drive from the truck cab the rest of the way back. It left Maggie riding in the passenger seat with Kol at the wheel.

She reflected on everything that happened to this point and came to a few conclusions. There were sides to Kol that she wasn't familiar with, even with the past few months of experience with him. She was seeing him in a light that she hadn't explored before, but she wasn't sure how to describe it. The attraction was obviously there, but did he trust her? Did he want her for more than the physical pleasure?

If it was that simple, she wouldn't be left wondering about those moments between them, the ones that threw her off.

She was torn from her thoughts when she noticed Kol taking an unplanned exit off the highway. "Where are we going?" She asked reflexively.

"Stopping for the night," Kol declared. He explained when he got a confused look from Maggie. "I don't care to accidentally drive into a herd with a mortal."

Maggie chose to ignore the condescending way he said mortal and acknowledge he had a point. Walkers were more restless at night and harder to see.

She sank back in her seat and nodded. Kol briefly pulled a map out from the dashboard while he drove, briefly consulting it to make sure he was going the right way. Realizing that he was suggesting them holing up for the night somewhere sent a wave of nervous flutters through her stomach.

Kol pulled the truck with the SUV hitched to the back into the parking lot of small roadside motel. It was one of those ones that were seedy and questionable prior to the outbreak, now it's abandoned and rundown state just blended in with everything else.

"Do you think they have any vacancies?" Maggie muttered dryly.

Kol just smirked and stopped the vehicles in front of the row of motel room doors. Maggie hesitantly peered around the parking lot for any sign of life before climbing out of the truck after Kol. The parking lot was empty with the occasional newspaper debris fluttering in the wind. A few of the motel room doors were left ajar, the contents having been raided.

There were still a few locked up though and held a little promise. Maggie pulled out the Beretta just in case, and followed after Kol's footsteps. He strolled up the sidewalk casually. He walked past the first door and Maggie hesitated, wondering why he was blowing it off.

"Not that one," He said to sharply before her hand could even touch the doorknob. He smelled the rotten guest that had forgotten to check out when he walked by it initially.

Maggie froze and dropped her hand. She watched Kol inspect one more door before moving onto the next. It seemed more promising as he then took a moment to peer through the window, pressing his hands around his eyes to cut out the glare.

"This one," He decided. It was clean enough and looked untouched from what he could see. Maggie stepped up behind him, still glancing over her shoulder out of habit while he took a jimmy out from his pocket. It looked like one of those police issued ones they used for picking locks that Kol probably found in his scavenging.

The musty smell hit her first, but luckily it wasn't followed by anything decaying or rotting. Maggie stepped into the room after Kol, her eyes having to squint in some of the darkness. The dust was heavy and thick on the surfaces, but largely the room was untouched.

Kol closed the door behind them and threw the latch while Maggie inspected the place. It had a singular king sized bed, which she was too tired to even care or comment on. The covers were the standard thin cotton comforter of questionable hygiene. There was a small microwave and microfridge in the corner. She opened the unit to find nothing inside, not even a complimentary can of soda.

Maggie stepped into the bathroom. Right away, she went to the faucet tap threw the handle. But she heard a clunk in the pipes and nothing came out. She let out a sigh.

"No water," Maggie announced. She glanced over the soaps and shampoo on the counter, but they wouldn't be of much use without water. More importantly, she was very thirsty and still human.

"I'll see if I can find some," Kol replied.

Maggie stepped out of the bathroom, seeing Kol having moved a chair near the door. "You're going back out there?" She panicked a little bit at the idea of being left alone. She knew the danger that lurked around the corner at any moment for her.

Kol nodded. "Just to make sure there are no unpleasant surprises and get rid of any strays that followed us," He explained shortly. Now that he found a place for her to stay, he could scout out the rest of the place.

"Are you sure it's safe here?" Maggie asked then, knowing that staying at motels and such like this had always been a risk and not an option for her group. It was just too exposed and easy to get cornered.

Seeing the concern on her expression and the way Maggie was looking to him for guidance, some of Kol's impersonal seriousness slipped away. He took a step closer to her and his hand reached up to her face. He felt the heat of her skin against his palm as he cupped her cheek.

Maggie bit her lip from the sudden gesture of affection, her protesting silenced in an instant. "You'll be fine while I'm here," Kol spoke firmly, in the most reassuring manner that he could manage in the moment.

Maggie swallowed thickly and nodded barely against his hand. Even after everything else that happened, she couldn't look away from him. Just like that, she was trapped by his gaze.

His thumb brushed against her cheek lightly, he watched the action before murmuring, "You look exhausted, darling. Get some rest. I'll be back soon."

"I'll try," She said weakly.

Kol started to lean towards her and Maggie closed her eyes from the proximity. For what, Maggie wasn't sure because at the last moment he changed his mind. He dropped his hand from her cheek and slipped from the room. By the time, she opened her eyes and let out the breath she was holding, the door latched shut behind him.

* * *

Maggie tried to get some rest, but her anxiety was too much. After Kol left, she paced around the room several times. She wanted to go out there, but she knew he would be furious if she disobeyed that order. It was for her safety after all.

But it was hard for her to just sit and wait for Kol to come back. Ultimately, it was the only thing she could do. She pulled back the comforter from the bed, it was dusty and the weather was too warm for it anyway. She balled it up and tossed it into a corner of the room.

Maggie reluctantly pulled off her boots and then opted to shed her jeans afterwards, they would be restrictive and uncomfortable to sleep in. She left Kol's jacket draped on the back of the chair next to the door. It left her in just her underwear and tank top, which hung down to her hips. She slipped under the single sheet of the bed and tried to settle down. She ended up tucking her head against the pillow and watching the door. The remaining light in the room filtered through the blinds of the large window, but it was dwindling with the setting of the sun.

Every now and then, she could faintly hear noises coming from outside. A thud and a fall here and there, but that was about it. She closed her eyes, but she didn't fall asleep.

She wasn't sure what time it was when the door opened again, but she was still awake.

Kol stepped into the room with a few water bottles and cans of juice he found on a maid cart. He set them down on the dresser with the useless tube-style TV. Before he stepped inside, he took a few minutes to poor bleach around the room they picked, just in case any walkers did show up. It would throw them off the scent of Maggie.

With a sigh, he closed the door and locked it behind him. Maggie saw him come inside, but quickly shut her eyes, choosing to remain silent.

This doppelganger and his emotions were driving him crazy. He wanted to strangle her for what she had done, but at the same time he wanted to pull her closer. It never infuriated him so much to be attracted to someone. That was one thing he realized was true while he was out there. He was undeniably attracted this woman, who he shouldn't be because she's human, but he couldn't help it and he hated that. He wanted to make her moan and quiver, but also wanted to know these secrets that she was keeping from him. It was because of the things he did know about her and didn't know that drew him into her.

Maggie felt the bed sink behind her from Kol sitting down on the edge. For several minutes, he sat there and ran his hands through his hair. With her eyes closed, she was hyper aware of the sound of his shoelaces loosening and Kol taking off his boots. Next she heard the sound of his jeans dropping to the floor. Her shoulders grew tenser, wondering just how far he was going with that. After the incident in Lucy's kitchen, she couldn't exactly be bashful about it.

She felt the sheet being lifted up and Kol sliding into the bed next to her. She thought that would be the end of it once he settled down, but then she felt a hand on her hip. It wasn't as possessive or intrusive as the lips that then whispered next to her ear, "I can tell you're still awake."

Maggie opened her eyes and inhaled sharply. She mentally cursed the fact he could hear her heartbeat.

"I couldn't sleep," She whispered, not lifting her head. Kol remained on his side, propping his head up with one elbow while he stared at the profile of Maggie's face.

"You were right, Kol," Maggie murmured, faintly staring at the moonlight that illuminated the sun bleached blinds of the room. "I don't know what I'm going to do."

"About what?" Kol asked in a surprisingly gentle tone. She could feel his thumb moving against the cotton of her shirt on her hip.

"Esther and Mikael," Maggie answered, for the first time really expressing her fears. "They're going to come after me for what I did today. I don't think I'm strong enough to fight them off."

Kol frowned thoughtfully. Maybe under normal circumstances, he would have criticized the human for being pathetic, but he had been afraid of those same people at one point another too. "Do you regret it?" He wondered if she was having doubts about burning the tree already.

"No, it was the right thing to do," Maggie replied instantly. Having Kol back around her, she realized she needed him. He gave her that clarity she needed. He was her way of making a right from the wrongs she had committed.

"Then we can talk to Lucy when we get back," Kol suggested calmly. "She has a few tricks for getting rid of unwelcomed spirits."

Some of the tension in Maggie's shoulders eased at that. She hadn't thought of going to Lucy, but it was comforting to hear the 'we' in Kol's words.

"And Niklaus?" She had to ask about her second biggest fear. "He's going to come after me for killing those hybrids." The last part felt child-like of her to say, but it was true, "I'm not ready to die yet, Kol."

Kol didn't have anything to offer her for that. Telling her that she would be safe would be a lie and he was never good at comforting people to begin with.

Instead, Maggie felt the hand on her hip squeeze a little tighter and Kol lean into her shoulder. His hand moved off her hip to push the strap of her tank top aside while he place a simple kiss against her skin. He meant it to be one, but once he was close he gave into the urge to place another on her scar.

Maggie shivered lightly from the contact. It was oddly affectionate of him and comforting to be even talking to him about this. Because of that, when he pulled away Maggie carefully rolled over onto her back towards him. She pulled her hands out from under the pillow while she stared up at his face.

It was that moment, lying mostly in the darkness of this rundown motel room, Maggie got it. The way Kol looked back at her was no different than the way he looked at her today or in the past life and her drawing comparisons between the two Kol's was pointless. There was no her Kol and this Kol, because they were the same man. He was her Kol, always had been and always will be.

Kol couldn't decipher the meaning behind the way she was looking at him, but he didn't pull away when her hand reached up to his face. Her fingers traced lightly along his hairline down to his cheekbone. He saw the worry and fear slip from her eyes as she became focused solely on him. Those emeralds drew him in like a guilty pleasure, Kol hardly noticed he was leaning down towards her.

Her fingers slid back into Kol's hair, feeling smoother and thicker than the time she had touched it in the pouring rain. Her hand wrapped around the back of his neck and pulled his lips down to hers.

Kol's lips were still and uncertain with surprise at first, but Maggie didn't care.

She kissed him slowly and tenderly. The moments trickled by shortly before Maggie heard him inhale and return the affection. Maggie felt her insides flutter with his eager and full response. She wasn't sure where she wanted this to go, but for once, she just let the slow burn take over. It started just as an ember with the tender, closed mouth kisses, but she felt him coax her lips open. Kol's head turned to the side slightly to deepen the kiss.

His hand on her hip was like a match to a strike strip. His fingers brushed against her bare skin and her exhaustion was forgotten. Maggie removed her hand from his hair. She placed both of her hands against his shoulders to push him back against the bed. She shifted her body by swinging one leg over his, straddling his hips while she hovered over him. His hands naturally caught her waist in response. She was a little surprised to find he was still wearing his shirt since Maggie never confused him for being shy.

Feeling the reaction she was giving him and realizing just how quickly he was losing control of the situation, literally with her on top of him, Kol pulled back from the kiss. "What are you doing?" He whispered , his hands frozen in their spot. It was obvious what she was doing, but he just didn't normally do that, not with a human.

Maggie let him pull back, but her lips remained hovering near his. Seducing him was her obvious answer, wanting to make love to him and feel alive were among others. But for that brief moment, she heard what sounded almost like fear in his tone.

Instead, she whispered back to him, "Kissing you." She pressed her lips back down against his before he could protest.

This wasn't the type of kissing he had in mind. In Lucy's kitchen, he was in control of the situation and he had a clear objective in mind. This was just fulfilling an unsolicited want and desire, which led to more dangerous things.

She could feel the indecision in the stiffness of his lips and hands on her waist, but she could also feel him stir to life, a not so subtle throbbing against her hips.

His restraint didn't win out. His tongue plunged into her mouth, attempting to take back some of the dominance of the moment. His hands moved down along her waist, grasping firmly at her rear and pulling her down closer. A gasp escaped from Maggie at feeling how pronounced he was through his boxers.

She moved her left hand from his shoulder and into the mattress to support herself. Her other hand moved down his shoulder and along his chest with the offending buttons as her target.

However, as soon as her hand brushed firmly against the pectoral of his chest, Kol inhaled sharply and let out a hiss.

Maggie pulled back from the kiss abruptly. "What was that?" Concern filled her voice.

"It's nothing," Kol murmured quickly, attempting to play it off. He leaned back up to catch her lips again.

But Maggie dodged it and his lips ended up in her neck. "That didn't sound like nothing, Kol," Maggie remained stubborn. "It sounded like I hurt you."

"Don't be ridiculous, darling," Kol murmured into her ear with his teeth nibbling at her earlobe, his hands moving up and down rather distractingly on her thighs.

Maggie knew it was ridiculous for her to suggest that, she was only human, but he didn't wince like that over nothing.

It was because of that, Maggie reluctantly put her hands to his shoulders to push him back against the mattress. She sat back on her hips to look at him firmly, really wishing she didn't have to ignore the heated arousal she felt and the clear ways he desired her.

"Let me see it," Maggie demanded confidently.

Kol let out an exasperated sigh, seeing she wasn't going to back down from this. He flopped back down against the pillows and pulled his hands off her thighs. While he agitatedly rubbed his eyes and ruffled up his hair, Maggie's hands took the opportunity to open up his shirt.

This woman would be the death of him at this rate.

"You know, darling, if you wanted to see me naked you just had to ask," He tried to play off his sexual frustration with a strained smirk. Maggie rolled her eyes but didn't comment.

Once she opened up his shirt and pulled it aside where her hand had been, a loud gasp came from her. Even in the dimly lit room, she could see how red and inflamed his chest was. The skin was raised and bubbling in places. She could even make out the tracks of what must have been fingernails dragging across it. There seemed to only be a few thin layers left to the skin.

"Jesus Christ, Kol. How is this nothing?" Maggie swore, covering her mouth.

Kol quirked an eyebrow, that wasn't a nickname he normally responded to but he would roll with it. He picked his head up to glance down at himself briefly. "It's not so bad right now," He commented.

"Not so bad?" Maggie's voice rose in horror. "You mean it's been worse than this?"

Kol let out a groan, mostly from the complete turn of mood that was happening and his body struggling to keep up. He just gave a nod.

"How long have you had this?" Maggie asked, lowering her hand from her mouth slowly towards his chest.

"A couple of weeks now," He muttered, draping an arm over his eyes. Trying to answer her questions was hard with the way she was still straddled over him in so little clothing. "It's worse at times than others."

The itch of her curiosity got the best of her. Maggie's fingers brushed just barely against the raging rash. She could feel the heat from the inflammation rising off his skin.

Kol let out another hiss and his body shifted underneath her from inhaling sharply.

"Sorry," Maggie murmured quickly, pulling her hand back.

Kol stopped and let out a sigh. He lifted his arm off his face with a dazed expression. "No, it's fine," He mumbled and then pulled his eyes to meet hers. "It felt… cool."

"Cool?" Maggie repeated dubiously, he didn't sound like the type to use the slang term.

Kol nodded, just as confused as she was.

Maggie bit her lip. The urge to touch it was even greater now that she knew it didn't hurt him. "May I?" She couldn't resist.

To her surprise, Kol sounded almost pleading and replied in an instant, "Please."

Maggie placed her hand fully against his chest, splaying her fingers out against his skin. She was partly afraid he would wince again, but this time he just let out a ragged deep breath. Maggie focused on each ridge and imperfection from his skin. She could imagine the hours of discomfort and pain of scratching at that must have happened.

For Kol, it was first relief he had in weeks. Her skin was a soothing sensation against what kept him awake, agitated and frustrated for weeks.

Her fingers traced it lightly while he relaxed enough to close his eyes. She could see the tension easing out of his forehead, although still present in another area.

"When did it start?" Maggie asked gently, trying to understand how an Original could have a wound like this. It should heal instantly, right?

Kol squinted slightly as he thought about it before opening his eyes to look up at her. "The day I met you," He said.

Maggie knew he didn't mean for it to sound like that.

But it meant something more for her. Maggie's expression began to pale and her mouth fell open slowly. She looked down at the wound again, this time really looking at the whole picture. It was larger and worse, but she realized it looked like the one that she had on her shoulder.

"Why?" Kol noticed the peculiar look on her face. "Does that mean something to you?"

"Maybe," Maggie muttered softly, but she was looking down at his chest, specifically the placement of the rash. "I'm not sure though. I would have to talk to Lucy."

Kol wanted to press more for what she meant by that, but he could see that she was just as lost as she was.

She could feel her stomach dropping. If what she thought was true, that would change everything.

Maggie's fingers curled up into her fist, to keep them from shaking. She was about to pull her hand away completely when she was stopped by one clasping over hers. Maggie looked from Kol's hand clasped over hers up to his eyes, more importantly the way they were silently pleading with her.

He didn't know what was going on, but he did know that was the first genuine relief to this affliction he's experienced. His eyes asked her not to pull away in a way he was too prideful to say.

"Okay," Maggie gave in. Her fingers spread back over his chest.

Kol gave a grin, which could be confused for a grimace by the wrong person. His thumb stroked lightly over her knuckles.

Maggie shifted her weight carefully on her knees to move off from straddling him. She tucked herself carefully into his side. She draped one leg over top his and Kol's other arm snaked underneath Maggie so he could wrap it around her waist, pulling her close against him. Maggie nestled her head against his shoulder, being left with looking at their hands on his chest. His grip on her hand was firm and secure while his thumb kept moving in a soothing and grateful manner.

Maggie felt his chin against the top of her head while silence settled over the room. She felt the rise and fall of his chest slowly starting to even out, acting like a steady beat lulling her closer to sleep.

Kol moved to press his lips briefly into her hair and whisper, "Thank you." Maggie's heart warmed at the gesture, a smile tugged briefly at her lips.

Vaguely, as she felt herself getting tired, she thought of the witch she would have to talk to when they got back. It wasn't actually Lucy, but a different servant of nature that once told her:

"_What once was has become and cannot be undone."_

* * *

_Author's Note: Kolie!_

_That's an appropriate greeting, right?_

_Anyway, I should be studying but this chapter wouldn't leave me alone until it was written. I want to hear your reactions! What are your thoughts on badass Maggie and her trip with Shane? This was interesting chapter because I really wanted to show Maggie's character growth in several ways, one being how much darker of a person she has become, but the other being at the farmhouse. She's moved on from her grieving and I think it's really big of her to put her family before her needs by not burning the house. Anywho, let me know your thoughts on this chapter! I love hearing analysis so feel free to pick it apart!_

_Review responses –_

_M: I'm glad you loved last chapter! And yes, the adult aspect of this story is something I really enjoy having for a change. No bratty Elena in this story. There's minimal interaction with the original TVD love triangle. I love Elijah and I do feel mean for what I put him through, the poor guy really is the staple hopeless romantic in my stories. He'll have his moment someday, just not any time soon._

_Guest: Thank you so much! I'm glad you liked last chapter. There's not as many laughs in this chapter, but I hope you enjoy it. I'm glad I was able to surprise ya with the humanity twist._

_aSprightlySoar: Is it okay if I say I gotcha? Haha. But yeah, if you read through the scenes before, there's little clues that his humanity has been on the entire time. Kudos to anyone that can find them all. At this point, Kol is a whole basket of confused. He's trying to figure out why he's so attracted to Maggie. I actually do plan on having the Lockwood party. I can't say what it's going to be like, but I guarantee it won't like be in IR and it's something to look forward to._

_Ellie: Thank you! And yes, Elijah is one of those characters I just want to give a hug, him and Stefan too. I don't know if I'm going to start ER immediately after IRR. Mid-March I'll be leaving the country for 10 weeks and I would hate to leave everyone hanging for that long. I'm still mulling it over on what to do so I'll keep you guys posted. I'm glad you liked the steamy Kolie! There's a little bit more in this chapter. I normally don't write scenes like that to be honest haha._

_Thank you everyone! Please keep the reviews coming! And don't forget to follow me on Tumblr for teasers and spoilers about the next chapter._


	10. Chapter 10

_Note: I do not own TWD or TVD… just having fun._

**[Warning: The following chapter may not be suitable for all readers due to language, violence and sexual content.]**

_Chapter Songs:_

_A Fine Frenzy – It's Alive_

_Scene: Maggie and Kol at the Grill_

_Maroon 5 – Harder to Breathe_

_Scene: Maggie's temper at Lucy's house_

_Within Temptation – All I Need_

_Scene: Maggie's memory (Irish Rose Ch. 54)_

_Voxhaul Broadcast – You are the Wilderness_

_Scene: Breakfast with Kol (Last scene of the chapter)_

_Chapter Ten_

Kol moved to press his lips briefly into her hair and whisper, "Thank you." Maggie's heart warmed at the gesture, a smile tugged briefly at her lips.

Vaguely, as she felt herself getting tired, she thought of the witch she would have to talk to when they got back. It wasn't actually Lucy, but a different servant of nature that once told her:

"_What once was has become and cannot be undone."_

* * *

A bump in the road and a smack of her head against the window was how Maggie woke up. It wasn't particularly hard, but definitely jarring.

She stirred with a sharp inhale and a groan from the rude awakening. Maggie rubbed her eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness and disorientation. She realized she was sitting upright, curled up in a slight ball against the passenger door.

"Kol?" She mumbled, blinking and looking around her. The dashboard of the delivery truck stared back at her and trees blurred by the windows as the truck sped down the highway. She looked over at Kol, sitting in the driver seat.

Maggie had Kol's jacket draped over her, like a blanket up to her shoulders. She felt fine, except for a little draft that caused her to inhale quickly in alarm. "Where are my pants?" She blurted out in a rather undignified manner.

Kol snorted with a chuckle, hearing how her heart raced. "Relax, darling," He then patted the space between them on the seat bench.

Maggie looked down and found the rest of her belongings; her jeans, her boots, her hunting knife, house keys and even the cell phone from Elijah.

"Oh," She mumbled shift the jacket around on her to slide her arms through the sleeves properly. "Thanks," She muttered while she quickly and least awkwardly in the confines of the vehicle got to a more dressed and decent state.

Maggie felt Kol's eyes on her while she was shimming the jeans up her hips. She was about to snap at him about staring, but she remembered that she spent the night rather cozily cuddled up to him in less. That kept her mouth shut and her cheeks bright red.

"How long was I out?" Maggie asked, attempting to smooth down some of her hair.

"Most of the morning," Kol answered. He then pointed out with surprisingly no smirk or condescending tone, "You looked exhausted so I just let you sleep." She was out cold when he woke up and he wanted to get back on the road anyway.

Maggie nodded and her eyes wandered out the windows. The terrain looked different. They weren't in Georgia anymore.

"We'll be back in Mystic Falls soon," Kol declared, noticing her inquisitive gaze.

Maggie took a nervous deep breath at that. If she wasn't afraid that he would take her too literally, she would almost suggest not going back.

"Last night," Kol cleared his throat, shifting his attention from the road to Maggie. "You said you needed to talk to Lucy? About what was going on?" He gestured vaguely to his chest.

Maggie nodded shortly, biting her lip.

"Do you know what this is?" Kol asked, perking up in his seat. The genuine eagerness in his tone really made Maggie want to answer him.

First, she ran through the response in her mind. '_I think the reason you have that excoriating rash is because you're mated to me, which shouldn't even be possible because I'm human and the time we bonded supposedly never happened_.' Oh, and she would be saying this to an aggressive Original with a general distaste for any human emotion.

Yeah, no, Maggie liked keeping her head on her shoulders.

"I have no idea," Maggie admitted honestly. "But I'm not even sure if I believe it myself. And if it's true, the implications…" Her voice trailed.

Kol's eyes narrowed at that, but he didn't press her further. She looked legitimately worried and even afraid. Afraid of what he wondered.

"I'll tell you," Maggie decided. "But I need to talk to Ayana first, to see if I'm wrong or if it's even possible."

"Ayana?" Kol quirked an eyebrow.

Maggie cringed, biting her tongue and realizing her mental slip. She meant to say Lucy.

"You've spoken to Ayana?" Kol questioned, his eyes lighting up. To her surprise, he didn't sound particularly hostile about it, like he had been with his parents.

Maggie nodded, fidgeting a little bit in her seat.

"How was she?" Kol tried to push for details.

Maggie cocked her head oddly at Kol. He wasn't saying like he believed that Ayana was up to something. There was something really casual about it, but interested. "Umm," Maggie hesitated, recalling her confrontation with the witch. "A little creepy, but mostly terrifying."

An amused grin pulled up on Kol's lips. "That sounds like her," He agreed, turning his head back towards the road.

Maggie's brows furrowed. He sounded like he was recalling a fond friend or something.

Sensing her confusion, he went on to explain lightly, "Ayana was close to my mother… She was," He paused trying to think of the proper term today, "there when I was born." He shrugged his shoulders with his words, "She practically raised me while Esther had her hands full with Bekah and Henrik."

His voice grew a little quieter while he added on, "She knew what I was. She tried to help me."

Maggie knew he wasn't talking about being a vampire and she wondered how far that help went.

Maggie was humbled into silence because it made sense to her all of the sudden. Now she got why Kol never spoke with anything but disdain for his mother. He saw her as the one that brought him into the world as a servant of nature, but also took it away from him. His admiration from witches didn't come from her, but from being raised so closely by Ayana and that was where his affection for the Bennett witches came from. He looked up to his father as a man, but Ayana was the mother he cherished.

A vibrating in her pocket interrupted her thoughts. Maggie pulled out the phone and flipped it open reflexively before she even looked at the name on the display.

"Hello?" She answered without taking her eyes off of Kol, holding it to her ear.

"Maggie?" Elijah's came in a rush, almost like if he wasn't actually expecting an answer. "Where are you? Are you hurt?"

"What? I'm fine," She responded right away, her brows furrowing. Mentally, she was still distracted by Kol.

"You're… fine?" Elijah's voice deadpanned with doubt.

"Yes," Maggie repeated while shooting a glare at Kol, who was failing miserably at hiding a smug smirk.

"Maggie, the Council has you declared missing and the hybrids you were with were found dead," Elijah stated bluntly. "What happened? Where are you?"

Maggie's expression fell with the slapping reminder of reality. There would be quite a mess to clean up after this and one she wasn't exactly prepared in dealing with.

The doppelganger closed her eyes, rubbing at them with one hand while she thought of how to respond to Elijah. "Uh, yeah there was a slight complication with the supply run. I ran into Kol and we're on our way back to Mystic Falls right now," She figured she couldn't skirt around the truth completely.

"Kol found you?" Elijah wanted to clarify. On the other side of the phone, he was left wondering how it was those two always seemed to find each other.

"Yes," Maggie confirmed, chancing another glance towards the Original and knowing he could hear every word.

There was a pause on Elijah's end before he replied in a reserved tone, "That is a complication." He could easily imagine Kol killing those hybrids, simply on a whim.

"Oh, I'm fine too, brother," Kol spoke up with a sarcastic tone. "I'm a little peck-ish from not having fed on anything for a few days, but thank you for asking."

Elijah sighed. Maggie shot Kol an incredulous look and reached out to smack him in the arm. The Original shied away from the strike playfully with a smile.

Elijah chose to ignore Kol, but the aggravation was practically dripping through the phone. "How far away are you?"

Maggie settled back down into her seat, but looked to Kol for an answer anyway.

"About an hour," Kol replied without actually having to raise his voice, knowing the vampire could hear him.

"Then I'm afraid there is more I should warn you of," Elijah declared.

"What is it?" Maggie asked in alarm, wondering what could have happened in the two days she was gone.

"Klaus has returned," Elijah stated bluntly. "And he's not happy about the dead hybrids."

Maggie swallowed thickly and exchanged a look with Kol. The humor and teasing disappeared from his expression as well.

* * *

An hour felt like a slow death march with each moment that passed by and they got closer to Mystic Falls. Maggie spent a majority of the time trying to come up with a cover story for what happened, using Kol as a sound board for bouncing ideas off of. Admittedly, her creativity was a little frazzled and shot. Each idea came out worse than the last and Kol didn't particularly bother hiding what he thought of them with the faces that he made.

Eventually, whether it was because he got tired of hearing her bad ideas Maggie wouldn't know, Kol declared that he would take care of it. Of course, Maggie asked how he would do that. Kol just shrugged his shoulders and said he would take care of it. Needless to say, Maggie wasn't entirely comforted by that.

It was too soon before they crossed the protective gates into Mystic Falls. Shortly after the truck with the hitched up SUV passed through, a police cruiser followed after them. By the time they arrived in the drop off area that Maggie had left with the hybrids initially, there was quite a commotion of vehicles and people. Clearly, Elijah had informed Sheriff Forbes he heard from Maggie and therefore Rick was informed along with the rest of her family.

Amongst the Council members including Sheriff Forbes and Carol Lockwood, Maggie spotted Elijah and Niklaus amongst the crowd. The hybrid hung back from the rest of the people. He quietly watched the way people gathered around Kol and Maggie as soon as they stepped out of the vehicle. Elijah made his way to the front of them. He noticed the way that Kol hung by Maggie's side and took on the most questions. Most of the time, he kept a hand on the small of her back, seeming rather casual but making sure none of the humans got too pushy near them.

Tense was probably the best term for the interaction between Elijah, Kol and Maggie. Elijah was clearly relieved to see Maggie was okay for himself, but yet he kept his professional personae in front of everyone else. But at the same time, all Maggie could think of was how the last time she saw him was the point blank rejection she gave for his brother. Kol broke his contact with Maggie to step up to Elijah, putting his hand on his shoulder while he whispered in his ear. Maggie watched Elijah's reaction closely, the way it froze, but didn't seem to flash in surprise.

"And it's gone?" He clarified in a low tone when Kol pulled away. Kol nodded with a dark glare, the tension thick between the brothers.

Klaus heard Elijah turn to address Sheriff Forbes and the other Council members. "Clearly, Ms. Greene has been through a terrible ordeal. We're lucky she is alive and well, surely your questions for her can wait until later? After she has rested and seen her family," He requested, but his tone more like commanded it.

Elijah stepped away with the Council members, conversing with them. Finally, it looked like Maggie was going to get a break. She followed Kol to the back of the truck, where several of the workers had already unhitched the SUV and were deciding what to do with the supplies. She couldn't wait to get in the SUV and drive away.

Klaus took the opportunity to approach them.

Maggie looked up, seeing the hybrid coming towards them. Her mind panicked and for a brief moment, she saw a flash of the night he came towards her with the stake. "Kol," She murmured his name, and reflexively reached out to grab his arm, to get his attention. One hand went to the bend of his elbow and the other grasped his wrist.

Kol followed her gaze and his expression hardened. He squared his shoulders towards Klaus, choosing not to react to the way Maggie subconsciously took a step closer and behind Kol, almost using him a shield. He didn't flinch his arm away from Maggie's touch, but he definitely didn't bring any attention to it.

"Hello Kol," Klaus greeted with his small smirk that always seemed borderline mocking. His eyes flickered over to Maggie, "Maggie," He acknowledged this time her nickname.

"Brother," Kol clipped out shortly. Even though Maggie couldn't see his expression from where she stood, she could already here the slightly disinterested tone in his demeanor. "Back so soon from Maryland?"

"Maryland?" Maggie blurted before she could help it, her natural curiosity getting the best of her.

Klaus' gaze shifted briefly from Kol to Maggie. "Yes, you wouldn't believe how many Congressmen hiding there are werewolves."

Maggie wanted to say more, but she felt the subtle shift in Kol's arm before his hand clasped around hers. It squeezed firmly as a warning.

"And then I heard the news that two of my hybrids were dead," Klaus' expression deadpanned into a malicious and displeased tone. "Attacked by a herd of walkers, no less."

"How tragic," Kol responded dryly, clearly bored by the conversation already. His hand quietly dropped Maggie's once he was confident she wasn't going to speak again.

Klaus focused his attention on Kol, clearly not happy with his response. "My hybrids were found… or rather the remains of them. Ripped apart, limb by limp," He recalled what he had discovered since he returned to Mystic Falls. Naturally, he knew they probably knew, but it just added emphasis to his words.

Maggie felt her heart hammering, hearing Klaus of all people recall the horrible thing she had done. She couldn't just remove the heads. Walkers wouldn't do that. It was messy and gruesome.

"It's an alarming prospect to accept; walkers going after hybrids. It would change the way this town survives," Klaus drawled out, as if he really cared about what happened to the residents of this town after everything that's happened to his family. It unnerved Maggie even further.

"At the same time," His expression changed, as if he was seriously considering it but there was one flawed detail about the cover story. "for me to accept that, I would also have to accept walkers have learned to fire a gun…" In a rather executioner style manner, too.

Maggie felt her expression grow pale while Klaus' icy stare moved slowly from Kol to her, searching for who would tell him what he wanted to hear.

"So tell me, what happened to my hybrids?" His expression told Maggie they had only one chance to tell him before his patience wore thin.

And he didn't believe that walkers attacked them for a moment.

Klaus' eyes settled on Maggie. Her fingers dug deeper into Kol's arm. She was busted and she didn't doubt he would hesitate to kill her in broad daylight with so many people nearby to witness.

"I killed them," Kol spoke up suddenly, stating like it was a simple and unimportant fact.

Klaus looked from Maggie to Kol. "You did?" The words were forced between his teeth.

Maggie's eyes grew wide, staring at the profile of Kol's face.

Kol shrugged his shoulders. "I just wanted to have some fun," He smirked smugly.

"Fun?" Klaus repeated impatiently. "By killing my hybrids?"

Kol slipped his arm out of Maggie's grasp as he spoke, "It was nothing personal, they were just in my way, between me and my real entertainment." As he finished his words, Kol had raised a hand behind Maggie and slipped it to the back of her neck. The contact drew a shiver, just like the way his thumb stroked in an oddly possessive sort of affection.

Maggie stiffened, not liking the way Kol spoke about her. What was he getting at?

Klaus' gaze narrowed as he watched his brother. Kol leaned towards Maggie's ear a moment. He ordered without taking his eyes off Klaus, "Get in the car, darling. Nik and I need to chat."

Kol dropped his hand from Maggie's neck, never once looking in her direction. On any normal Sunday, Maggie would have smacked Kol for speaking to her that way.

But it was Klaus and push against her hip was another reminder to get moving. She darted around to the passenger side of the SUV.

Klaus' eyes never left Kol. A part of him was struggling to remember the last time he had called him Nik. But his expression didn't hold the same level of endearment.

Once safely inside the vehicle, Maggie slipped on the seat belt and watched the two brothers through the windshield. She could see them exchanging hushed words between each other. The tension was radiating off of Kol's shoulders. Meanwhile, Maggie wondered what the heck that was all about. She hadn't even thrown out the suggestion of him taking the blame for her, she wouldn't ask that of him.

Kol was about to dismiss Klaus and get into the vehicle, taking a step towards the driver's seat, when he said something that caught his attention.

"It's interesting, your choice of playthings, Kol," Klaus commented, his hands tucked behind his back. For the moment, he would let it go. Kol had pointed out they were notoriously disgruntled hybrids anyway.

Kol stopped and turned back to him, the confusion starting to show in his eyes.

"After all this time, I can honestly say I'm surprised to see this doppelganger still alive around you," Klaus explained, but didn't help it become any clearer to Kol.

Kol half shrugged, "Who said I was done with her?" He suggested instead, while wondering what he meant by _this_ doppelganger.

Klaus cocked his head, but didn't look convinced. Kol didn't feel comfortable getting into the car until he was.

Kol changed his tactic.

"The doppelganger is off limits. That's what you told me in Denver, correct?" Kol barely waited for Klaus to nod. "You want me to stay away from Elena Gilbert?"

Klaus' eyes flashed at the mention of his future hybrid blood bag.

"Then you stay away from her," Kol pointed a finger in the direction of the doppelganger sitting in the passenger seat.

Having made his point, Kol went to the driver's seat. The door shut quickly behind him and the engine roared to life before the SUV peeled out of the parking lot. It watching the SUV drive away did Klaus realize that Kol didn't know.

* * *

Kol was cold and standoffish the rest of the drive to Maggie's house. She wasn't sure if she should thank him or not for taking the heat on the hybrids. She wanted to, but everything in his demeanor screamed it wouldn't be welcomed right now. He refused to take his eyes off the road. Maggie wanted to ask about what the hell it was that just happened back there with Klaus.

The SUV pulled into the driveway of the house. Maggie saw that the Camry was gone. Being the middle of the day, it was likely that no one was home. She had ran into Rick with Sheriff Forbes at the drop off point.

Kol seemed to ease up a bit by the time he cut the engine. "I'll help you with the boxes," He declared while climbing out of the vehicle with Maggie. She had almost forgotten about the possessions they had picked up from the farmhouse.

Kol popped the trunk. He grabbed a box and Maggie grabbed one of the suitcases. They approached the front door and she dung out her set of keys. Maggie let herself into the house, only to turn around and see Kol blocked by the threshold.

Obviously, she wasn't going to go against the wishes her family and invite him inside. "Here, just pass them to me," She said. She would leave the boxes and bags in the living room for now, until they sorted it out later.

It made for quick work because by the time Maggie set one box down, Kol was already waiting at the front door with the next one. She almost expected him to be gone by the time she returned from placing the last one, but he was still there. His hands were on the frame of the doorway, almost leaning against the invisible barrier.

"It would be polite to invite in me after all my help," Kol suggested with a smug smirk. He was back to his normal self that Maggie had witnessed on the road trip.

Maggie rolled her eyes at him, fighting a smile. "You know I'm not going to do that," She replied as she stood with the few inches of the threshold between them.

"It was worth a try," Kol dismissed, clearly having been expecting that response.

Silence fell between them, while one studied the other. Maggie was reminded of the brief moment of vulnerability she saw from him the night before. She bit her lip lightly, thinking about how close they had been. There was just one thing she hadn't talked to him about.

"Kol, about last night…" Her voice trailed, a little unsure of what it was she really wanted to say.

Kol stood upright quickly. He started shaking his head, looking away from Maggie. "Yeah, that's not going to happen again," He decided arrogantly.

"What?" Maggie startled.

"It was touching and all," His tone mocked her heavily and his eyes were closed off emotionally. "But that's not happening again."

He continued to say, despite the obvious hurt in Maggie's expression. "I am an Original, and you're…," His eyes flickered up and down Maggie in a condescending manner.

"Mortal?" Maggie filled in the blank for him. She let out a scoff, "You think that makes you better than me."

Kol just smirked, "Well you said it."

Maggie shook her head, feeling like a fool. Some things never did change.

"Why? Because I haven't had the _privilege_ of living for a thousand years to forget what it's like to be human," Maggie spat out at him. The smirk started to fade off his lips as Maggie took a step back from the doorway, disgust filling her eyes.

She looked him up and down before shaking his head. "No," She corrected him, "That doesn't make you better… That makes you just like every other asshole I've ever dated."

"Oh come on, darling –" Kol's voice was cut off by the slamming of the front door. Kol's jaw rolled into a tight lock as he had nothing but wood to stare at.

He didn't really know why he said. He wanted to take it back as soon as he saw how it affected her and that was such a foreign feeling for him. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but he ended up just curling it into a fist and stepping away in frustration.

"She's just a mortal," He muttered to remind himself while he marched away from the house.

* * *

Maggie spent the rest of the afternoon muttering about pigheaded jerks and how all men were the same, regardless of the species. She took a shower and scrubbed the filth of the road trip off of her. After the shower, while she still had the privacy, she sat on the edge of her bed and pulled out the duffle bag she had been stashing underneath it.

Opening up the bag, she was greeted by an increasing array of blood vials. It had grown quite a bit since she stole the first couple of medical supplies from the hospital. This was her insurance policy, she figured. The bag wasn't as full as she wanted it to be. She didn't want to take any samples when she had vampire blood in her system, just in case. But there was still a sizable amount there.

Hopefully, she could leave one good thing behind if something happened to her.

She remembered the look on Lucy's face when she asked her to use a spell to preserve them. Somewhere between appalled and dying of curiosity. Maggie took a few minutes to find a vein in her arm and draw out three more vials of blood before she stashed them with the rest under the bed.

Maggie took the time to eat a decent meal after that and some members of her group came home shortly after that. At least her group didn't interrogate her as much about what happened. They were mostly relieved to see that she was okay and still alive, physically and mentally. She wasn't withdrawing into the shell she was before.

She opted to spend the rest of her day at the Grill, picking up the second half of the afternoon shift. When she got there, Matt had insisted that she didn't really need to be there and she should be resting. Truthfully, after sleeping most of the way back, Maggie was feeling pretty rested and she wondered how much of that had to do with Kol meddling with her head.

That was how Maggie ended up in the Grill's kitchen, preparing the dough for next day's bread. She had the flour, eggs, and the rest of the ingredients spread out around her. Some of the trays were already in the oven behind her while she started to prep the next batch.

She wasn't sure how she knew it, but she knew that he was there before she looked up. A part of her wanted to say it because of that distant bond, but that was the sort of thing if she gave it more credit than it deserved, it would go to her head.

"You can't ignore me forever," Kol drawled out, moving to lean against the prep table opposite from Maggie. His elbows were folded in front of him, trying to drop down to her eye level while her hands beat the dough relentlessly.

"Yeah?" Maggie snapped out. "Watch me." She refused to look up at him. She was still fuming about his condescending attitude earlier.

Kol watched her work, sizing up her fresh change of clothes. It didn't escape his notice that his jacket was hung up on the wall though. So mad at him, she's still wearing his jacket, he mused.

Kol smirked. "Talk to me, lisicia?" He threw out his lower lip in a playful pout, cocking his head at her.

Maggie shook her head and walked away to take one of the fresh trays out of the oven. She tried to focus on the smell of the fresh bread and not the infuriating Original behind her.

He had meant to stay away, he really did. But after their confrontation at the house, he was left agitated and anxious, even after he snapped a neck or two.

Fine, if she wasn't going to talk, then she would have to listen. Kol leaned off the table, walking around it to follow after Maggie. "I'm not very good with these sort of things," He declared, looking like he was sucking on a lemon in the process from doing it at all. "These apologies, regrets," He waved a hand in the air.

Maggie turned around and nearly stumbled over her feet, finding Kol invading her personal space. She stopped with a sigh. "You regret what you said to me?"

"Of course," Kol smirked that he got her to say something.

"All of it?" Maggie rose her eyebrows dubiously. "Even that you're better than mortals?"

Kol made a face of hesitancy, "Well…"

Maggie scoffed and rolled her eyes. She stepped around Kol to get back to the prep table. She started cracking eggs into the mixing bowl a little more vigorously than she should have.

Kol stepped up behind her and placed his hands on either side of her body on the table edge. Maggie grew a little tenser, sensing how close he was standing to her, but she stubbornly kept working. Kol leaned down into her ear and whispered, "Please don't make me beg, darling."

Maggie bit her lip from the husk of his voice. Her hand paused with the egg in the air. "Is that your apology?" She questioned incredulously.

"Would you forgive me if it was?" Kol countered, still leaning in close to her ear. A glance down, Maggie could see his hands on the table on either side of her.

She moved to set the egg back down in the bowl with the other untouched ones. She thought it was the most pathetic apology she had ever heard and painfully obvious he didn't actually mean it. He was just saying it to appease her.

Carefully, she turned around between him and the table to face him. His eyes found hers with a smirk on his lips. Quietly, her hand behind her picked up two eggs from the bowl.

"You want to know what I think about your apology?" Maggie's voice dropped into a whisper while she took in how close he stood to her. She tilted her head up towards him and she could tell she was drawing him in. The smirk grew on his lips while he hovered in the few inches between their faces.

Maggie's head tilted to the side and he saw the way her eyes were half shut. He inhaled deeply when he felt her hot breath fanning his face.

There was a series of soft cracks in the air.

Kol went rigidly still, his knuckles going white from gripping table edge. He swallowed forcefully while he felt the cool slime ooze down from the top of his head.

Maggie pulled her hand away, wiping her hand boldly against his shirt in the process while she stood upright with a cold stare.

Kol stepped back from the table, feeling it soak through his hair and down into his eyes. His fingers reached up and pulled it away from his brow line. He opened his eyes to stare down in shock at the broken egg shells and yoke on his hands.

Mouth gaping, Kol looked up at Maggie in disbelief. He wasn't sure what stunned him more, having two eggs broken on top of his head, or the fact that Maggie just went ahead and actually did it.

There were very few times Kol Mikaelson was left speechless. Standing with broken eggs on his head in front of Maggie was one of them.

The stubborn doppelganger just stood there too, taking in each glorious moment of it. She folded her arm over her chest and raised a challenging eyebrow at him.

He stared at his hands for so long, Maggie was starting to wonder that she caused serious mental damage before he took a sidestep closer to the prep table. Without saying a word, he reached a messy hand into the bowl of flour.

A white puff cloud later and Maggie let out a gasp, borderline shriek. She took a step back instinctively and her hands rose in the air from the assault.

She opened her eyes to find the front of her work shirt completely covered in white. Most of her face and neck was a nice, puffy shade now. "Seriously?!" She exclaimed at Kol. What was he, 12 years old?

Kol's expression deadpanned into mock seriousness as he still clutched onto the flour bowl, "Oh yeah."

Maggie let out an aggravated groan or growl, it was hard to distinguish. In a snap, she picked up several more eggs and started to throw them at Kol.

The rest she had trouble keeping up with.

There was the throwing of flour here and there.

She darted around the tables in the kitchen to dodge his retaliation.

Maggie caught a handful of melted butter to her back.

Kol got sprayed by the hose from the sink.

"Cheater!" Maggie yelled when Kol started using vamp speed to dodge several eggs.

Somewhere, her shrieking started to twist into laughter. Especially when Kol picked up some of the fresh bread loaves to use as shields before chucking them back at Maggie.

A giggle fell from Maggie's lips seeing Kol dodge one egg, just to turn to see where it went and catch another to the side of his head.

Maggie had to duck and hide under the table at one point to dodge another cloud of flour.

Rising up on her feet, Maggie's eyes darted to the table to find her next ammunition. Spotting a bowl of dough ready to be rolled out, Maggie dipped both hands into. She smirked to herself, imagining how she could get Kol and not seeing the way the Original stepped up behind her.

She had her hands raised in the air with a fistful each when she turned around. She barely caught the way Kol swooped in on her before she felt his lips over hers.

Her eyes widened in alarm at how quickly things had turned. Not deterred, Kol raised a hand up to hold the back of her head as he kissed her lips, fully and eagerly.

There was a splat in the air, followed by another.

The piles of dough sat abandoned on the floor while Maggie's eyes fell shut and she wrapped her arms around Kol's shoulders. He kissed her, not because he wanted to coax her into anything, but the urge came to him while watching her competitive assault, seeing that smile and hearing that rare laugh.

Maggie forgot about being upset with Kol as he did the very thing he promised wouldn't happen again. She clutched to him, through the smeared mess they made. She let him push her back towards the table before his hands grasped under her thighs. She gasped against his lips as he lifted her up, sitting her on the table edge and at a more even height for them.

She turned her head to deepen the kiss, allowing Kol to slip inside and taste her mouth. Her hands moved up to ruffle up his hair, not caring that her fingers felt gritty from the flour and dough. His hands were wrapped around her body, smearing the sticky mess around further.

When she had to breath, Maggie pulled away with a gasp. Kol continued to kiss her, starting at the corner of her mouth and moving down to her neck. He only made it a few short pecks before he pulled away from her neck sputtering.

Kol wrinkled his nose this way and that, fighting the natural urge to sneeze. "Pffth, gah, flour," He muttered and Maggie let out a giggle at the white powder on his nose down to his chin.

"Here, let me," Maggie grinned. She kept one arm hooked around him while her fingers reached up delicately to his face. Her eyes focused on his lips while she wiped away some of the offending substance from his face.

Kol watched the way Maggie stared at his lips. Only when her fingertips stopped at the corner of his mouth, he leaned down to hers, sensing the same desire. He kissed her slowly this time, but more tenderly than before. It was the type of kiss that he wasn't in a hurry and he drew it out for each moment that it was.

It was the type of kiss that caused Maggie's stomach to knot in a flutter. The type that made her want to tell him how much she loved him, but she choose to show him instead.

"Why is it," Kol pulled back to whisper, lingering near those tempting lips of hers. "I can't seem to stay away from you?" He wondered, it was truly maddening to be so drawn to her, mortal or otherwise.

Maggie opened her eyes, feeling his thumbs stroking lightly on her hips and seeing he was looking at her as if she really had an answer. Her mouth parted with silence at the honesty of his declaration. She went with the only response she could think of, "Maybe you should stop trying to."

His eyes flickered with playfulness and a grin grew. He started to lean in towards her again, but he stopped to stipulate in a sensual manner, "Only if you tell me your name."

Maggie had run out of excuses not to. More importantly, she ran out of the will too. "Margaret," She whispered back, enjoying the broad smile she got in response. For a moment, she swore it seemed genuinely happy and not smug or arrogant.

Maggie leaned up and kissed him again. His hand moved to caress her cheek as she did and it felt like she was falling for him all over again.

The couple only got a few moments alone before a voice interrupted from the entryway leading to the front of the house. "How charming."

Kol stood upright and turned to see his sister leaning against the entryway with her arms folded over her chest.

Rebekah wrinkled her nose, looking around at the complete chaotic mess they had made. "And this why I don't let Kol anywhere near the kitchen," She stated.

Maggie bowed her head slightly, feeling her stomach flip at being caught. Her hand covered her mouth immediately, wondering how badly her lips were swollen.

"Bekah," Kol growled with clear annoyance at the interruption, he still didn't remove his hands from Maggie's waist.

Rebekah didn't care though, instead she asked suspiciously, "Does Elijah know you've been playing with his doppelganger?"

Maggie picked her head up, eyes widening at that implication. This caused Kol to drop his hands, repeating with venom in his voice, "_His_ doppelganger?"

"Yes," Rebekah drawled out impatiently. "The Leavey girl… The one you just had your tongue down her throat."

Oh no, Maggie realized with horror, that's what Rebekah meant by Elijah's doppelganger, the one that was created from his sacrifice.

"Leavey?" Kol repeated in disbelief and growing tension, he took a few steps towards Rebekah. "As in Rosemarie Leavey?"

"You didn't know?" Rebekah scoffed, an amused and wicked grin on her face. This was priceless. Maggie felt her blood running cold. Rebekah nodded towards Maggie, "That's the one Nik has been hunting for centuries."

It got Klaus in quite a tizzy that he couldn't get close to Maggie earlier with Elijah and Kol there. But Rebekah didn't realize it was actually Kol that had been hunting Maggie's bloodline and Maggie knew that.

His expression fell into pure adulterated shock as he looked from Rebekah to Maggie in a new light.

"Kol," Maggie tried to plead with her voice, but really unsure where to begin.

Kol blinked and it clicked in his mind. He understood that look from her, one that didn't seem very surprised. "You knew already," He pointed out, his voice hollow with disbelief.

Rebekah sighed and got bored, who knows how long these two would stare at each other without saying anything. "Anyway, Nik is looking for you," She said to Kol. With that, she stood up and left the room.

Kol felt like he had the ground taken out from underneath him. He barely processed retreating towards where Rebekah disappeared when Maggie stopped him.

"Kol," She said meaningfully, knowing she looked desperate. "The idea that I stand for… that's not who I am."

She really hoped that he could see past that. Kol didn't look up fully from the ground or even nod before disappearing from the room.

* * *

Maggie hung around the Grill for a couple more hours. She washed herself up as best she could from the mess. Most of the time was spent just cleaning up the kitchen. The tank top she had underneath her shirt would have to do for clothing. At least it didn't soak through, she figured. Admittedly, the look on Kol's face remained forefront in her mind.

He didn't know, which she supposed made sense. They never talked about it, Maggie never tried pursuing it like she did before. And now, she had no idea what would happen next for them, if there was a _them_.

Coming to the closing hour, Maggie shooed the last couple people out of the Grill, one of them included Seamus. She found the warlock behind her bar, routing around and trying to find a whiskey bottle.

"Seamus, go home!" She pointed a finger towards the door. She had Kol's jacket tucked under her arm with the keys in hand to lock up the place.

Seamus threw two innocent hands up in the air. "Fine, fine!" He pleaded and then looked at Maggie oddly hopeful, "Say you wouldn't mind giving me a ride by Lucy's place?"

Maggie rolled her eyes but agreed to anyway. Better sooner than later talk to Lucy, she figured. Seamus hung around while Maggie closed up the place and turned off the lights.

They were driving in her SUV when Seamus started asking her questions, for once not to be aggravating. "So what do you need from Lucy?" He asked with his feet up on the dashboard. Okay, she took that back, he was still a little aggravating.

"Nothing per say," Maggie said as she drove. "More like, I need her to go with me to the old witch's house."

Seamus frowned slightly, the confusion clear in his face. "Huh, well… she's in Wisconsin right now, she won't be back until tomorrow night," He said.

"Really?" Maggie questioned and Seamus nodded. "Damnit," She sighed, not really wanting to put it off.

"What's at the old witch's house for ya?" Seamus wondered, not too many people had business there.

"There's a spirit I need to talk to," Maggie admitted and gave a side glance to Seamus. "I don't want to do it alone. They're kinda creepy…"

Seamus grinned from her honestly. Cheers to that, he was glad he wasn't the only one that thought so sometimes. "I could go with you," He suggested after a thought. It probably would be good to make sure she had someone to keep them off her back.

"Really?" Maggie perked up, seeming surprised but appreciative at the same time.

* * *

With a clean long sleeve shirt on and new jeans, Kol sauntered up towards the Grill, reluctantly following his brother. The hybrid didn't seem perturbed in the least by the lack of lights or cars in the parking lot. Klaus walked straight up to the front doors and gave them a jostle.

"I told you the place was closed," Kol said in a singsong tone, rolling his eyes. He was starting to wonder why he had agreed to this. Apparently, Klaus wanted to go out for a drink, for old times' sake.

Klaus turned to Kol. "When has that ever stopped you?" He asked, while he threw an elbow back into the window pane of the door. The glass broke and Klaus reached inside to open the door from the inside.

Kol smirked slightly and followed Klaus inside.

* * *

"I don't blame ya for not wanting to go there," Seamus said, leaning his head back against his seat. "Every time, I go there… The spirits are always hissing at me about excessive drinking and fornication."

Maggie cringed and shook her head. Was it too late to take back agreeing to go with him? That was a subject she didn't want to go near with Seamus.

Before she could say anything further, there was a resounding pop from outside the SUV and Maggie felt the wheel give a jerk. They were only about half way to Lucy's house.

"What was that?" Seamus asked, dropping his feet from the dashboard.

"I think I popped a tire," Maggie muttered while slowing the vehicle down to a stop.

* * *

Klaus and Kol had broken into the first bottle of whiskey when Kol out the real reason he dragged him out there. It was just the two of them standing at the bar. They left the lights fully lit in the place. Kol was leaning with one elbow on the counter while Klaus poured their second drink.

"Elijah tells me that you've flipped switch… And that you've gone soft for a mortal," Klaus was taunting, but his gaze inquisitive, watching Kol's reaction closely.

Any amusement fell off of Kol's face. "He said that?" He had considered that to be a private conversation between them.

"Well, not exactly," Klaus inclined his head before taking a sip, "But something to that effect. Is it true?"

"Don't be ridiculous," Kol chided immediately, hiding the rest of his reaction behind a deep gulp.

He felt Klaus watching him. "I wish I could believe that," He murmured finally, "But I can't after what I saw today."

Kol's eyes narrowed at where this was going.

* * *

"Yeah, it's definitely flat," Seamus declared. He didn't even need to get down on the ground to see the front wheel missing air. It was flat against the road.

Maggie sighed from the rear of the SUV. She had the trunk popped open and pulled back the carpeting of the space.

"Hey! Come back here and give me a hand, I found a spare," She yelled up to Seamus.

* * *

"I've told you already, Niklaus," Kol grounded out in aggravation. He had told Elijah before too. The tumbler glass in Kol's hand was starting to splinter and a web of cracks rose up from the base. The contents were already gone.

"I can't shut it off. I tried already," Kol stared firmly at his brother before letting an exasperated sound, "Believe me, and I _have_ tried."

"That's where I have to disagree," Klaus no longer shared any fake pleasantry in his voice. "Me personally, I think you can still shut it off when given a reason to."

As he spoke, Klaus reached into the inside pocket of his jacket. Wearily, Kol half watched the movement until he pulled out an object and placed it on the counter calmly, as it was simply a deck of cards.

Kol stared at it for a long while and he felt like the wind had been stolen from his lungs. The silver of the blade caught the light of the room and glistened mockingly at him, just like the intricate designs on the handle. He could etch those designs from memory having felt that blade in his chest so many times before.

It wasn't lost on him how the tip was pointed in his direction. "A dagger," Kol choked on the word before looking up at Klaus with a mix of emotions. Anger, hurt, and resignation. He could try to overpower him, but Klaus was the hybrid. He could try to run, but Klaus was the hybrid.

No, the only way he would be leaving the Grill was in a coffin. It had been trap.

"So what? Another hundred years in a box and I'll be fixed?" Kol sneered bitterly, seeing how Klaus resented the idea of him having his humanity back on.

"No, this is just a precaution if I don't have your cooperation," Klaus patted the handle of the dagger, not removing his hand from the counter. Admittedly, he was disappointed he didn't see more fight in his eyes and that was why he thought Kol was better without it.

* * *

Maggie stood behind Seamus with an unimpressed and worried look on her face. Her arms were folded over her chest with one hand against her chin. He managed to get the SUV up on a jack and the old tire off, but she wasn't instilling a whole lot of confidence after that.

"Are you sure you know what you're doing?" Maggie asked Seamus.

The warlock stopped what he was doing and looked over his shoulder at Maggie indignantly. "Should I begin to describe in gross detail how much I hate that question, or would you like me to fix your car?" He shot back.

Maggie sighed. "Yeah, yeah, but can't you just…" She waved her fingers in a theatrical manner towards the flat tire on the ground. "Do something witchy and fix it?"

Seamus balked at Maggie. "What? What is this?" He mimicked her hand movements mockingly. "No! I can't just spirit finger some sealant into it."

He waved an exasperated hand towards the tire, "In case you haven't noticed, the entire sidewall is blown out."

Maggie deadpanned with mock seriousness, "Would you like me to light you some candles to help?"

* * *

"I believe you've been going about this all wrong, brother," Niklaus proceeded and Kol really couldn't stand the term of endearment at that moment. The dagger sat on the counter between them. "You need to go back to the source of the problem."

Kol's eyes narrowed. That was fine and all, but he didn't really know what exactly had caused him to turn it on in the beginning. He wasn't going to tell that to Klaus though.

"And you just need the proper… nudge in the right direction," Klaus smiled menacingly at that. It was clear in Klaus' eyes that he was thinking of the mortal Kol had supposedly gone soft for.

"Don't you dare touch Margaret," Kol growled out instinctively and took a step forward towards Klaus threateningly.

In the same motion, Klaus tensed and wrapped his hand around the dagger. Kol only stopped because he saw the motion from his peripheral. The dagger was raised off the counter a few inches, poised in his direction.

Kol cursed mentally, knowing Klaus had caught him on both accounts.

"And see, it's cause of that look right there…" Klaus declared, his tone dropping a level lower. "That is why I already took corrective measures."

* * *

Seamus threw his hands in the air. "Okay, maybe I am a little stuck…" He finally declared, pushing himself up to his feet. The old tire was nowhere closer to being replaced then it was a few minutes ago.

"Finally," Maggie rolled her eyes, unable to help laughing at the absurdity of it all. "Come on, just leave it. Lucy's house is what? Only another mile or two away? We can come back for it in the morning."

Seamus gave a dejected pout towards the tires while scratching the back of his head. Being the typical male he was, he wasn't big on the idea of asking for help.

Maggie just shook her head and started to walk around the front of the SUV towards the sidewalk.

"Having car problems?" A male's voice stepped out in front of her. Maggie halted abruptly, wondering where it was that he came from. He was an older man, looking like he was in his late twenties and the sleeve of tattoos set Maggie on edge with his scruffy appearance.

Maggie's eyes widened and she took several steps backwards. She bumped into Seamus, but he wasn't looking at her.

"What do you think, Bradley?" The man addressed, looking past Maggie. The doppelganger turned to see another man, wearing some sort of high school letter jacket and a female approaching from the other side.

"I would say these two aren't going anywhere tonight," The second man replied, eying up the vehicle jacked up with only three wheels.

It took Maggie a few seconds to remember where these three looked familiar. Seamus already knew what they were the moment they approached and now had the two surrounded with their backs to the SUV.

"The first chance you get," Seamus hissed under his breath to Maggie while the distance closed in on them. They could see the arrogant and predatory expressions in the glow of the street lights.

"_Run_," Seamus said to Maggie. The doppelganger only barely nodded.

Bradley lunged at Seamus first. Maggie barely caught the blur of movement before ducking out of the way. Seamus managed to catch the hybrid and slam him roughly into the side of the vehicle before turning to face the next one.

Maggie sprinted towards the gap that created in their ranks. She only made it a few steps before felt a hand grab the back of her head, yanking her hair. She let out a cry as it jerked her head back and she felt fangs plunge into the side of her neck.

She thrashed against the hybrid's grasp. Her hands came up to his face, clawing at him and leaving deep scratch marks along his face.

The hybrid was ripped off of Maggie by an invisible hand.

Maggie stumbled forward, catching herself on her knees. She reached up to touch her neck and pulled away nothing but blood.

"Run!" Seamus shouted at Maggie.

She looked over her shoulder to see the warlock using his powers to keep one hybrid pinned against the side of the vehicle and the one that bit her on the ground. "Run, Maggie!"

She scrambled back up to her feet and looked over her shoulder one last time before taking off. She only caught a glimpse of Seamus and the female hybrid rising up from behind him, lunging after his exposed back.

Maggie turned her head forward and focused on running as fast as she could towards Lucy's house. They wouldn't be able to get to her there. She pumped one arm forward after the other while her boots hammered against the ground.

Behind her, she could hear the noises of crashing and snarling. They seemed so close, she was afraid to look back and see.

What felt like an eternity was only minutes before there was an explosion that caused Maggie to skid to a halt. She stopped and looked back, seeing a pile of smoke and flames rising into the air above the tree line. She could only guess that was what had been her SUV.

Shit, she thought, she was in way over her head with this. She kept one hand pressed against her neck, thankfully the adrenaline of the moment wasn't letting her process how bad the bite was. Maggie reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out the one source of help she had.

She kept moving while she pressed the cell phone to her ear and listened to it ring. Two painstaking rings later and the line picked up.

"Maggie?" Elijah's voice came from the other side.

"Elijah! Elijah," Maggie gasped, panting and the wind grabbled some of her voice from her movements. "I need your help. I don't know what's going on. These hybrids. They got Seamus. I'm bit."

"Maggie, slow down," Elijah urged, trying to remain calm and make sense of this sudden panic. "Where are you?"

"Downtown, near Lucy's place," Maggie huffed out, chancing a glance over her shoulder. She couldn't see anything coming after her, but she didn't trust that they were only a few seconds behind her.

"Go to Lucy's house, get inside," Elijah ordered, knowing the hybrids wouldn't be able to follow her inside. "I'll send help and figure out what is going on."

"Okay," Maggie acknowledged before shutting the phone abruptly, to pick up her pace. She was a little dismayed. It didn't sound like Elijah was close by enough to help her.

* * *

"I think it's time you told me what that ritual was really for," Klaus demanded. He had been patient with his brothers for far too long about Rosemarie.

Kol had taken a step back again from Klaus. He just regarded him coldly and said, "What's the point? You're going to dagger to me regardless of whether or not I tell you." And he certainly didn't see the incentive to tell him at this point.

In his eyes, Klaus had just threatened him with a dagger one too many times.

"Only while the doppelganger is still alive," Klaus corrected, looking down at the dagger in question. "I can't have you getting in the way of that."

Before Kol could retort, the doors of the Grill burst open haphazardly. One of Klaus' hybrids stumbled in. He knocked a table out of the way and several chairs, clearly in a state of delirium. Both brothers turned their heads in his direction and Klaus absently set the dagger the down on the counter.

"Bradley?" Klaus questioned, taking a few steps closer to the hybrid that struggled to get up on his feet, using the fallen table as support.

Cold sweat ran down his face and blood was smeared from his mouth down his chin. He looked at Klaus in a pained and frantic manner. "Help me," He barely whispered before choking. Black bile bubbled out of his mouth and he fell over onto his back.

Kol followed the actions, but then cringed. His hand went to his forehead with a sharp mental pain. His vision blurred between seeing the hybrid stumble through the door. Or did he break through the front window? It was hard to tell. There was blood and that black bile. An image of Maggie standing in the window with blood on her neck flashed in his mind.

Kol clutched one hand on the counter for support while he bowed his head, trying to shake the mental assault away.

Klaus didn't see his brother's reaction. He kneeled down next to the hybrid while the creature was choking on his own blood tainted vomit. "What happened?" He questioned, but he was helpless to seeing the man starting to convulse before stilling.

His skin turned to ash and black veins rose around his neck.

"What is happening to my hybrids?!" Klaus snarled out and looked back towards his brother, searching for answers.

Instead, the bar was empty and the dagger was gone from the counter. Klaus only barely heard the sound of the side access door shutting heavily.

* * *

Maggie was relieved to spot the familiar brown house. Her legs were screaming and her calves burned from the sprint, but she didn't care. If she could just get through that threshold she would be okay.

She bounded down the sidewalk and turned abruptly, almost knocking herself over from the momentum down the front walk.

The front porch steps were only a few dashes away when she felt a hand grab her upper arm. "No!" Maggie shriek, her body jerking violently in the process and nearly popping her shoulder out. Her attacker caught her other arm, pulling her back swiftly from the steps.

"No, no!" She threw an elbow back towards his face and he barely dodged it.

"Hey! It's okay," He said to her in a quiet rush tone. "Margaret, it's me!"

Maggie stopped moving immediately at the sound of his voice. She twisted in his grasp to see his face. "Kol," Her voice came out hoarse and winded, but the recognition was clear in her eyes. He nodded and loosened up his grip on her arms.

A blink later and Maggie turned towards him, throwing her arms around his neck. She buried her face in his shoulder, inhaling his scent deeply and trying to push back the hysterical sob that threatened to boil up. "Thank god, you're here," She cried in relief, thinking this was the help that Elijah had sent.

Kol was a little taken back by the abrupt hug, but just went with it. He only partially returned the embrace because he was looking over her shoulder down at his own hands. There was a dark stain smeared all over them. His eyes flickered towards her neck, seeing the open bite mark and wondered what happened. His nose wrinkled slightly from the fresh blood that held no appeal to drink.

For a few short moments, he just stood there while Maggie clutched to him like a lifeline. He felt her fingers grasping on hairs at the back of his neck and the way she held him fiercely.

"Putting aside the fact you're hugging a vampire with an open neck wound, we should probably get inside," Kol suggested stiffly.

Maggie pulled back abruptly. "Right," She muttered bashfully and Kol nodded. He stepped towards the house and opened the front door, letting her step inside first.

The house dark and deserted, which made sense when Maggie remembered that Seamus said Lucy was in Wisconsin.

Kol shut the door behind them and took a moment to peer through the window, making sure no one followed them. Maggie watched him and then noticed the hilt sticking out from his jeans. If she hadn't seen it before, especially from stashing six of them, she wouldn't have recognized it right away.

"Kol," Maggie startled, trying to ask about it without it seeming too obvious she knew exactly what that was. "What are you doing carrying a dagger?"

He looked away from the window, his eyes flickering briefly towards Maggie before marching down the main hallway.

His hand reached back to pull the dagger out of his waistline. "Let's just say you're not the only one having a bad night, darling," He said entering the kitchen with Maggie in tow.

Kol set the dagger down on the counter next to the sink while he crouched down to open the cupboard underneath. "What happened?" He asked while his head routed around inside.

"I don't know really, some of Klaus' hybrids came out of nowhere and attacked us," Maggie shook her head. It didn't make any sense. She had provoked Klaus' attack in some way or another before. "I just don't know why he came after me right now…"

"I believe he's still a little peeved about those hybrids," Kol declared while finding the first aid kit he was looking for. He nodded towards the kitchen island. "Sit down and take that jacket off," He ordered.

Maggie blanched a little at the order, but followed it anyway when she spotted the med kit in his hands.

"But he doesn't know I did it," Maggie protested while stiffly shrugging out of the jacket. It clung to her frame from the sweat and she tried not to move her neck too much. She was really starting to notice how much it ached and throbbed.

"No, it's just one of his grievances with me," Kol said while stepping in front of Maggie. He set the orange box down next to her. She watched his movements and noticed how blood smeared on everything that he touched. He flicked the latch open and exposed the pristine white contents.

"Sometimes, when he goes after someone," Kol explained with while trying to find some gauze to put over that bite mark. "He doesn't go directly after them, but what they…" His voice trailed, finding it hard to believe he was in this position. Of all the years they spent terrorizing people, he didn't think he would ever be on the receiving end of it.

Maggie knew for sure then. She wasn't sure how to happened, but seeing that anguished hue in Kol's eyes and the way his hands shook, Maggie knew. She had an idea before with the times she caught him talking about his human life and the little things he did for her without realizing it.

"He went after me because he knew you care," Maggie murmured in a quiet, awe-filled tone. Kol looked up slowly to her face. His throat knotted tightly and he didn't say anything, because he heard her words and her eyes also said, 'And now I know you care, too.'

His lack of denial was the closest to an admission. The fact he didn't scoff in her face or dismiss her as a being ridiculous sank it even further home. He stared back her in a guarded manner, like someone that had just been caught, but was afraid they would be shocked in response.

A ringing from Kol's jean pocket ripped through the air. He startled and looked like he had never been so relieved to have an interruption. He stepped back from Maggie, pulling out his cell phone in the process, looking at the name.

He raised a finger to give him a minute and Maggie nodded. "Elijah, how convenient that you called," Kol slipped into his fake antagonistic charm as he stepped out of the kitchen.

Maggie looked to the first aid kid and pulled out the gauze, figuring she would put some pressure on the wound while Kol was on the phone.

"Kol. Where are you? Are you near downtown?" Elijah's voice came into a determined hurry while Kol walked back to the front of the house.

"I don't see why I would be inclined to tell you that," Kol shot back hotly, stepping into the living room.

"Kol, I don't have time for your games," Elijah's voice came out warningly, in a low and controlled manner. "Something has happened –"

"That you're right!" Kol's voice rose with irritation and anger while he parted some of the curtains, peering out the window to make sure no one was out there. "Do you have any idea what our darling brother has been up to?"

There was a hesitant pause on Elijah's end. "What are you talking about?" He had an idea, but maybe there was more to it.

"I'm talking about how he just lured me to the Grill as a trap, to dagger me!" Kol struggled to keep himself from shouting.

"What? How –" Elijah barely could get a breath in.

"Don't play coy with me, Elijah," Kol snapped. He wouldn't put it past his siblings to concoct this plan. Yes, let's put Kol down for a while because he's too unstable and he's killing too many people lately. It wouldn't be the first time. "He knew all about our conversation. I know you told him," He accused harshly.

"Kol, I…" Elijah struggled, but gave up and started back pedaling. He didn't have time to explore the deep seated mistrust with his siblings. "Yes, I told him, but with no malicious intent. I swear. I give you my word. Please believe me, I can't waste any more time, it's about Ms. Greene."

Kol was about to rip into him further, but he lost his steam at the mention of Maggie. He could practically feel Elijah anxiously awaiting his response on the other end of the line. Kol glanced towards the kitchen, he could hear the human at the sink attempting to clean the blood of her arms and neck.

"Go on," Kol granted permission.

Elijah sounded relieved to have him at a calmer level and explained quickly, but precisely, "She was attacked by several of his hybrids moments ago. I told her to take cover in Lucy's house and she's hurt. I'm on my way to stop Klaus, but I need you to find her –"

"And just why I bother to do that?" Kol cut him off, his voice shifting into one of disinterest and boredom. He couldn't recall when he signed up for mortal protection services.

Elijah had to contain himself from gripping his phone too tightly and breaking it. "It's _Maggie_, Kol," He emphasized, trying to get through to his little brother.

"And your point is?" Kol challenged, still aggravated he had a dagger threatened against him because of her. "She's just another pathetic mortal. More trouble than she's worth, if you ask me," He rattled on, staring aimlessly out to the street and the few lights that lit it.

"Surely you don't believe that," Elijah was appalled and beginning to panic. This wasn't the side of his brother he needed right now. As much as he hated to admit it, he needed the brother that chased Maggie out into the rain and kissed her.

"Would you like to find out?" Kol taunted with a dark smirk on his features. His siblings really should know better than that to tempt him like that.

Kol heard an anguished sigh from Elijah's end. He took a moment to collect himself before saying in a pleading tone. "Kol, please…" Kol didn't know the last time his brother sounded so openly desperate. "I know you believe there is nothing good left about your humanity, but I don't. I beg you, as your brother – not the one who daggered you, but the one who was _always_ there to pull that dagger out." Elijah wished he was standing before him, to show him how sincere his words were.

"If you don't do it for her, do it for me," Elijah begged finally.

Kol's gaze faltered. He hadn't wanted to appear he was more involved than he already was. It would be easy to tell Elijah he was on his own and part of him wanted to.

The silence from Kol itched at Elijah. All he could hear was Kol's faint breathing from the other side. He didn't see the way the Original looked over his shoulder for several long moments towards the kitchen.

Kol could hear her heartbeat if he focused enough on it from where he stood. It was steady, stubborn and strong. In a way, a little bit like him.

"Margaret's fine," Kol admitted in a quiet and subdued tone. "A little shaken up with a few scratches, but otherwise she's okay."

Elijah blinked in pure, stunned confusion as he barely processed Kol's words. There was a pause before he replied hesitantly, "Wait, you're already with her?"

The phone call cut off abruptly from Kol snapping the cell phone shut.

Kol stepped away from the sheer curtains of the front window. He glanced down to the phone in his hand. Some of the displayed was clouded by the smear of blood from his fingertips. Shaking his conversation with Elijah off his mind, he moved through the shadows of the house back towards the sole light in the kitchen.

Maggie caught a sight of Kol from her seat on the island. She winced slightly from the pressure on her neck and the gauze that was sticking to the blood of her wound. In silence, her eyes followed Kol's movements towards the kitchen sink. He put the phone down on the counter next to the dagger and her eyes settled on his hands.

It looked like he was wearing gloves from a distance, but she could see the red ting. He threw on the water and the gloves started to come off slowly.

"Are the hybrids dead?" Maggie asked in a quiet tone, not wanting to raise her voice too much. She could feel the muscles in her neck cramping a little.

Kol just gave a short nod. He fixated on the soap and getting rid of the blood. He couldn't clean up her wound until he did.

"And what about Seamus?" Maggie asked, recalling the last look she got of the warlock and the hybrid lunging after him.

"He didn't make it," Kol said quickly, in a flat and automatic tone.

Maggie frowned. He was a warlock, a powerful one, there was no reason why he wouldn't be able to handle a few baby hybrids. "You killed him, didn't you?" Maggie accused softly.

Kol's lack of answer was all the confirmation that she needed.

Maggie sighed, trying to picture the Yankee lying in the street somewhere with his heart ripped out. "Yeah, I didn't like him that much either," Maggie admitted. He was annoying.

Kol smirked to himself while he shut off the water and dried his hands.

The silence of the house seemed louder than normal with darkness coming from the other rooms and just her and Kol. Maggie could hear the hum of the refrigerator and the occasional drop of the ice in the freezer.

Kol approached Maggie without actually looking at her, focusing on her neck and the first aid kit next to her. "Let me have a look," He said.

Reluctantly, Maggie pulled the gauze away, cringing from the blood that was starting to become tacky. She remained still while Kol took the time to clean up the rest of the blood from her neck. He picked up the disinfectant from the kit and Maggie gave a faint hiss from the stinging.

The whole time she watched him. She marveled for how of the Originals he was considered the wreck loose and most impulsive, but he didn't flinch once at the sight and smell of her blood. A thousand years of experiencing bloodlust allowed for it to only control him when he wanted it to.

"It's not deep. It'll close up on its own. It's mostly surface damage, he was either an amateur or not actually trying to kill you," Kol snapped her out of her thoughts with his final assessment.

"Great," Maggie muttered dryly while Kol gathered up the used bandages and threw them in the trash. "Thanks," She added on, at least appreciative of the fact that Kol was taking care of her this far.

Kol closed up the first aid kit and slipped it back under the kitchen sink.

"What did Elijah say?" Maggie's curiosity couldn't keep at bay anymore. She kept glancing to the windows, almost expecting Klaus to show up any moment.

"He's on his way to talk to Niklaus, to see if he can get him to back off," Kol answered her, moving to stand next to her at the island. Her feet dangled off the counter and her hands hung in her lap.

"Do you think it'll work?" Maggie wanted to know the real truth, her eyes searching Kol's expression. Was there really much of a shot of that happening?

Kol pressed his lips together tightly in thought a moment before shaking his head. "Honestly, no," He replied. Look at Katerina, he never stopped chasing her. "But it'll buy some time to get out of here and figure out what to do next."

As soon as Maggie heard no, she clenched her teeth together and started to shake her head. By the time Kol finished talking, she slid off the island counter and her hands knotted in her hair. Kol followed her back into the living room. He could hear her sharp intakes and see the muscles in her shoulders go taunt.

Kol fidgeted uncomfortably while she started to pace in the living room. "I would say it's a little understandable to be upset…" But he really didn't know what else to say, he wasn't good at these things.

Maggie froze and let out a strangled sound, like a bark of a laugh. "Upset?" Her voice rose.

She turned around slowly. Kol didn't see tears running down her cheeks or smell salt in the air. "Upset, no," Maggie grinded out. Her eyes blazed with a poisonous venom. "Now I'm just angry," She declared.

She pulled her hands from her hair, she could see her fingers starting to shake from the adrenaline building in her veins. "I am done crying," She reached her limit, her frustration starting to cloud herself from really seeing Kol in front of her.

"I am so sick of feeling pathetic and weak!" She shouted. Kol took a step back when the vase of flowers on the coffee table was sent across the room before shattering against the opposing wall.

"I am done with feeling sorry for myself," She continued. She grabbed a plant from the bookshelf and a loud shattered reduced it to a pile of ceramic and dirt.

"I am tired of running from death, always running, just to survive!" A swoop of her arms sent the piles of books and papers on the coffee table into the air. "Just to see tomorrow!"

Kol's eyes widened while he took in the sight of the doppelganger starting to trash the room. She smashed the floor lamp against the tall bookshelf.

"Running from walkers!" She threw a grimoire from the shelf, ripping pages in the process. "Running from Klaus!" Another was sent shortly after. "Running from being able to live!"

It was impressive to Kol, seeing this feisty little thing with so much rage and energy. A wicked sort of grin grew on his face as he watched with morbid fascination.

Maggie's hands wrapped around the backing of the bookshelf. "I'm not running anymore," She snarled out while she threw her weight into the action. "This has got to end!"

"I've had enough!" She shouted while the rest of the bookshelf groaned and fell forward, into a cracking mess of ancient texts, broken trinkets and cracking as some of the hinges came loose.

Maggie turned on her heel, her eyes seeking out the next object in her path of destruction. Before she could take a step forward, hands tried to pull her arms down to her sides from behind.

"No!" Maggie screeched, thrashing to get away from the restraint. She threw an elbow back, causing his grip to slip momentarily. "Let go of me!"

Kol got the advantage on her, he pulled her arms down against her sides. Despite that, he still felt her body try to jerk to get away from his, like a wild animal.

Maggie kicked out when she felt herself lifted up in the air briefly. Her human eyes struggled to keep up with the blur of motions, her hands pushed against his shoulders until she felt her back slammed against the wall. Her head jerked back and cracked sharply against the drywall.

It was shocking enough to stun her thoughts and she gasped from it.

Kol mashed his lips against hers before she could recover. His teeth nipped harshly against her lower lip. Her eyes snapped open, seeing that she was pinned by his body against the wall where the bookshelf had been a moment ago.

Her hands on his shoulders balled into a tight fist and she had to use most of her strength to push him off of her.

He only let her because of how fiercely she was fighting him. It was admirable, seeing something so fragile and breakable with such coursing power and energy completely unbefitting of her.

Her hands clutched his shirt, just to turn him around and push Kol back against the wall where she had been. Maggie's eyes fell shut and she tilted her head to the side, pushing his tongue back into his mouth to take control of the situation.

Kol let out a growl from his lips and his hands went to her rear, grasping firmly each cheek as he pulled her up against his body.

Her hands yanked roughly at his shirt, some of the buttons popping before it gave way to exposing his chest.

* * *

**[Warning: The following scene may not be suitable for all readers due to sexual content.]**

Maggie gasped loudly from him grinding up against her and her fingers dug into the back of his scalp. She kept her ankles hooked around him tightly while she felt his hands under her thighs, clutching her tightly to his torso.

Kol pulled his lips away from ravishing hers a moment to look at her. He smirked and then kicked a foot firmly in front of him. The hinge of the door cracked from the strike before the guest bedroom door snapped back and the doorknob caught in the drywall by punching a hole.

Maggie heard the ripping of fabric and felt the chill on her back as Kol walked them into the room, towards the bed she had slept in before.

Kol let her fall back against the comforter of the bed, leaning over her shortly after while his hands removed the remains of the offending tank top from her frame.

Maggie's eyes blazed from the heat of the moment and a shirtless Kol leaning over her. Being hunted by Klaus and everything else fell way to getting what she really wanted and that was Kol. His body settled down over hers, feeling his weight against her hips as she spread her legs for him.

Her hand went to the back of his head, commanding him down for another kiss. She moaned into his mouth, feeling his hands run up her sides while hers got reacquainted with the planes of his chest. A taunting squeeze of her breast and Maggie rolled them over so that she was atop of Kol. She pushed the kiss back into his mouth, still fighting for dominance of the moment.

She pulled his hands from her sides and pressed his wrists down into the comforter to keep them pinned above his head.

Kol growled, figuring what she was doing. He broke the kiss, "I don't think so, darling." She was trying to get him to submit to her, but that wasn't going to happen. He would make sure she submitted to him.

His hands slipped down swiftly to grasp at hers before Maggie could question what he meant. She was rolled over onto her back once more. This time, Kol moved down her body and in a blink she felt her boots removed from her feet.

Then she was on her stomach, her cheek pressed into the blanket. She gasped and panted from the rush of motions. She could feel his hands running up the back of her legs, to her rear and the waist of her jeans. Maggie pushed herself up on all fours, looking of her shoulder and catching a glimpse of his dark and hungry eyes.

One hand kept on the small of her back, keeping her from getting up completely while the other slipped in front. It ran boldly over her heated mound, earning a slight whimper, before her zipper ripped through the air.

A harsh tug on her jeans caused Maggie's knees to slip and she was on her stomach again. Her legs were forced together briefly while Kol pulled her jeans down to her knees before yanking them off completely in one more motion.

"Get on your knees, Margaret," Kol ordered in a husky tone.

Maggie gasped, feeling her hands shaking with excitement. When she took a moment too long for Kol's patience to move, a hand knotted at the back of her head and pulled on her hair. Maggie let out a cry, wincing and arching her head back. Naturally with the action, she rose up to support herself with her hands.

His hand loosened up to slide down her spine, for the moment ignoring her bra. As Maggie slowly followed his order, she heard the yanking of his belt through the loop of jeans. She looked over her shoulder to catch a brief glimpse of his jeans dropping before the mattress dipped as he kneeled behind her.

His hands caught her hips, grasping her firmly and confidently. Maggie briefly felt a tug on the sides of her panties before they ripped too, digging into her skin on the opposite side. Kol tossed the remains of the useless, already soaked fabric away from her body and into the room carelessly.

"Kol…" Maggie wasn't sure if her voice was more of a whimper or beg when she felt his tip rubbing against her, feeling how wet she was and lining himself up against her. "Please," She needed to feel him now, to fill that ache in her core.

Without hesitation, he thrust into her and relished the sound she made in response. He didn't give her a chance to adjust to the feel or size of him before he started to pull out, just to roll back into her.

Maggie's knuckles went white as she clutched the comforter. Kol's fingers dug into her hips, keeping her in place as he took control of her. Her moans and cries were joined by the sounds of slick skin slapping against another. The bed creaked at the hinges and the head boarded butted back into the wall.

She didn't know how long it was or how to describe what she felt. It eventually got to the point each wave of sensation ran into the other. She had trouble discerning from the pleasure of feeling him and the nails that dragged down her back or pulled on her hair. She didn't know when her knees and elbows started shaking so much she had trouble keeping herself up.

Kol pushed her down onto her stomach when she couldn't support herself. He pushed one leg up, bending at her knee. In this position, Maggie's eyes rolled to the back of her head repeatedly at the new sensation. She felt his teeth on her shoulder, not breaking the skin but adding a sharp and jarring sensation to her nerves. His hands wandered constantly over her body while not letting her return the favor.

At least, until he finally decided it was okay to flip her over onto her back, slipping into her in the more traditional position. Maggie's panting complimented the way he grunted into her neck animalistically. Her fingers grasped at his shoulder blades, her sweat mixing in with his while she heard him starting to get close to his finish. Her legs had gone mostly numb from the sensations and her hips screamed, but she didn't want it to stop.

His lips moved to her neck as he felt himself begin to spill into her. She moaned his name into his ear. She could feel his teeth scraping against her skin.

Maggie's eyes shot open when she felt them skin down though. "Kol?!" She cried, feeling the sharp pain from the skin breaking while his hips bucked against hers. "No!" Her pleasure quickly turned into panic. She whimpered from the unnerving pull of blood from her veins before the pain started to go numb.

"You can't, don't!" Her hands slapped against his shoulders, trying to push him off of her. He couldn't drink her blood, not when she was human. Her mind came back with sobering clarity, but the vampire on his ecstasy high wasn't going to move.

She was useless against him. The weight of his body was too much to push him off her. His arms were still trapped around her, bracing himself on his elbows. His hips stopped moving against her while he took several gulps, a humming purr of satisfaction rising from his chest at the taste of her blood and feel of her body.

A rush of lightheadedness hit Maggie. She found herself struggling to keep her eyes open. The bit of energy she used to push against his shoulders, she found extraordinarily draining. Her hands fell back weakly against the mattress when he finally removed his lips from her neck.

"You can't," She murmured over and over, her head lulling from side to side. Her vision closed in on her quickly. She saw the veins under his eyes and the red stain on his lips.

She stayed awake enough to see those veins start to fade and his tongue dart out to lick the remains.

* * *

"_Tell me, darling_," Kol's voice came as a soothing temptation. "_Have I won over your heart_?"

The thrumming of the strings and the female singer's voice carried through Maggie's memory. She felt the blur of fine gowns and suits dancing around them. She only remembered the way Kol looked at her, tempting her to admit what he already knew in front of all these people.

She felt his hand on her waist and hers clutching to his as they danced. She barely recalled herself responding to his teasing. She repeated her actions and responses in the same precision as they had happened, while her mind was consciously aware of the events repeating themselves.

She still felt the flutters her chest and the way it warmed her to have him looking at her like that. Her feet felt light and carefree in that moment. She listened to the way he declared he intended to hold her affections solely.

When the song came to an end, Maggie stepped back from Kol. He was supposed to place a kiss upon her hand, but instead he pulled her back to him. She caught herself against his chest, her hands running over the fine suit as he kissed her.

She lost herself for a moment in that kiss, the cherished memory. It felt so vivid having his lips, kissing her in a way that he hadn't expressed to her in a long time.

He pulled away from her and whispered tauntingly, "I believe this is the part where you're supposed to slap me."

Maggie's eyes widened with embarrassment and she looked away from Kol, around to the people. She caught glimpses of the other guests. She spotted Stefan Salvatore standing off to the side. She briefly saw Elijah standing and moving to converse with Niklaus, both who had been left without their dates on the dance floor. Rebekah was scoffing and rolling her eyes at how her choreographed dance had fallen apart.

When Maggie looked back to Kol, he was gone. For the first time snapping out of the motions of her memory, Maggie turned around on her heel in a panic at what was going on. Kol was nowhere in sight. She darted around people to try to find them.

It wasn't until a few couples parted ways did she spot him standing near the entry way of the Mikaelson ballroom.

Except, he wasn't wearing his formal suit. He had on a long sleeve shirt and a pair of casual jeans. The same ones that she barely recalled ripping off of him. His hands were in his pockets while he stared at her with an impassive and stern expression.

Before she could say anything, Maggie gave a cry as a searing pain ripped through her skull. Her eyes clenched shut and her hands went to her temples. She fell forward onto her knees. The ground shifted before her, fading from the polished hardwood floor into rough and untreated cement. Her gown disappeared into threads of jeans and a casual shirt.

But she didn't pay it any attention, she was leaning forward with her forehead against the pavement. It felt like the nerves in her brain were exploding in a series of pops.

"Bonnie, don't!" A voice shouted.

There was a brief period of relief, Maggie forced herself to look up through tears of pain. She barely caught the sight of Glenn collapsed on the ground a short distance from her. More importantly, there was the witch standing before her with the cold and unfeeling glare.

The words fell from Maggie's lips with such venom, "You filthy, witch whore, I will rip your -!" The vampire fell to the ground with another scream of pain, clutching her head. Bonnie continued her mental assault, raising her chin with her hands clutched tightly at her sides.

"This is what vampirism does to people, Glenn. It changes them," Bonnie declared darkly while she watched the vampire writhe on the ground. Her spine jerking and twisting, trying to get away from the pain.

Maggie shook and let out strangled cries. Distantly, she could hear Jeremy yelling at Bonnie. "Bonnie, stop!"

"You're killing her!"

* * *

Kol ran his hands through his hair repeatedly as he slammed the front door behind him. The morning sunlight was mockingly bright. He had blurred to get his clothes and the hell out of there. He didn't know which way was up anymore.

Everything had spiraled out of control.

He just wanted to know more about her. He was willing to swallow the fact she was Rosemarie's doppelganger. There was a very easy solution to that. She intrigued her with her medium gift. He wanted to know more.

It was because of that, when she was soundly asleep and he lay beside her, he wanted to see what she dreamt of. All he urged from her subconscious was one happy and one defining recent memory from her.

He wasn't prepared in the slightest bit for what he found.

Kol blurred in aggravation towards the Mikaelson mansion while he tried to sort out what he had saw. So many impossible things though.

She was a vampire. But how? She was human. And then his family, all of his siblings were there. Him and her… They were intimate, and not in the toy with your food before eating it type of way. He could see that in his own eyes. He looked at her like she was the fucking world and it made no sense to him.

The human, her ex-lover. How was he alive? How could he possibly know the Bennett witch? Maggie was so torn up about his death, but yet she so clearly despised him in that memory.

Coming up the driveway of the Mikaelson mansion, he noticed that it was full. Apparently all of his siblings were home.

Kol paused at the front door to get his composure. He didn't need his siblings to see how shaken up he was by what he saw. He threw on the indifferent smirk that he had perfected over the years and stepped inside the house.

He could hear the voices from the living room and wandered that direction out of curiosity.

Rebekah was lounging on the sofa with an outdated magazine in her hand. She looked up from it at Kol's arrival. "It's about time you got back," She drawled out in annoyance and then glanced towards her other brother. "I thought for sure the carpet would catch afire from his pacing."

Elijah ignored Rebekah's slant and approached Kol quickly. "How is she?" He pressed anxiously.

Kol just rolled his eyes. "Oh, relax. She's fine." He almost commented on the fact Elijah was wearing the same suit from yesterday, but he couldn't throw any stones with his outfit. "She was sleeping rather soundly when I left," He smirked and moved to step around his brother.

He wanted to head into the kitchen for a well-deserved blood bag.

Kol was about to pass by Elijah's shoulders when he was stopped by a hand against his sternum. Sensing the rising tension, he looked towards Elijah. His head was bowed and he had gone rather still. Kol heard him inhale the air in a few short breaths.

Kol smelled of sweat and other pheromones, but most importantly of all, Elijah could smell Maggie all over him.

"When I asked you to look after her," Elijah's voice dripped formidably as he ran his other hand across his chin. He looked up to Kol slowly, a lethal anger in his eyes. "That was not an invitation to take advantage of her." He could only imagine the emotional state she must have been in.

The smirk slipped off of Kol's face. He shrugged the hand off of his chest and turned to Elijah, going nose to nose to him.

"Funny, the way I see it," Kol taunted darkly. Elijah couldn't believe him, while he was trying to plead for Maggie's safety, that's what happened. "She's not yours to look after."

Kol went and twisted the knife even further with a smug look in his eyes, "In fact, I'm pretty sure it was my name she was moaning _over_ and _over _–"

Kol's words were choked off by Elijah's hands wrapped around his throat, pushing him back against the wall with a resounding impact.

Rebekah's mouth fell open and she stirred up from the couch, quick to get out of the way from Kol pushing Elijah off of him. She blurred out of the room to dodge them.

The brothers collided into the mantelpiece on the opposite side of the room, cracking the rich stone and intricate patterns.

Elijah's eyes were black with the sort of rage that Kol or Niklaus nearly carried. Kol took a rib cracking punch to the stomach before Elijah caught a jaw dislocating right hook. Both of the Originals recovered quickly enough from the injuries before going in for another strike.

He knew he was angry when Elijah was too preoccupied with striking Kol, he didn't even bother to say or taunt him in any manner. There were just the grunts and snarls shared by each.

The house creaked and groaned. The living room sofa got smashed as collateral before Kol was able to get the upper hand on Elijah, forcing him back against the wall with his hands on his throat.

"You forget your place, Kol," Elijah snapped out, trying to keep his windpipe from being crushed under the force.

"Enough!" Rebekah cried, entering the room again but she went ignored.

"I'm well aware of it, _brother_," Kol sneered out the word. "It's you that's forgotten who's the better fighter." He moved a hand down from his throat to his stomach, plunging it harshly into the cavity. He couldn't kill Elijah, but he could make him suffer and the hissing cry through his teeth attested to that.

"Stop it, the both of you!" Rebekah shouted, tears filling her eyes at the savage way her brothers went at each other. She expected better from Elijah.

"Listen to me!" She demanded, coming up behind Kol.

Kol's back went rigidly still. Elijah saw the way his eyes widened and felt his hand freeze around his intestine. "Bekah…" Kol murmured warningly, feeling the sharp point against his lower spine.

"No! You listen to me, both of you," Rebekah commanded. "I am sick of these doppelganger whores tearing this family apart." She had seen it too many times with Niklaus and Elijah. She couldn't stand by and do nothing this time with Kol.

"I'm not going to let it happen again," She decided. She would do what it took, even if that included pointing her dagger into Kol's back like right now.

Kol pulled his hand from Elijah's body and moved it against the wall, following by the one from his neck on the other side. He didn't dare move his back though, being forced to stare at Elijah through all of this.

Elijah saw how the fire died immediately in Kol's eyes, reduced to a smothered ember.

"Rebekah…" Elijah looked to his sister, trying to urge her. "Put the dagger down." He had his anger towards Kol, but after everything that had happened to their family, he didn't want to see another sibling in a coffin.

"No," Rebekah demanded stubbornly, knowing she should just do it already.

"Go ahead," Kol spoke up in a dejected and hollow tone. His gaze didn't leave Elijah as he spat out, "After all, that's what this family has been reduced to, hasn't it? Attacking and daggering each other when one sibling doesn't agree with you?"

"Kol…" Despite himself, Elijah saw the hurt and disgust fill his brother's expression. For once, he believed it to be completely genuine too.

"I guess we really are no better than Niklaus," Kol stated with malice, directed more at Rebekah. She had been daggered by him just as much, if not more.

Rebekah faltered, wincing from that implication. The dagger lowered just a bit from his back.

It was enough for Kol. Enough for him to slip out from it and shrug off dismissively the hand Elijah tried to put on his shoulder. Without looking back at either one of his siblings, he left the room.

* * *

Kol grabbed a couple of blood bags from the kitchen and a fresh shower. In his room, while changing into some fresh clothes, he rummaged through the drawers of his dresser. He found the old wooden box, which was faded and an antique by today's standards. He was just grateful to still have it.

He opened it, picking through some of the contents before finding what he wanted. It was small and cool to the touch. He slipped it into his pocket before finding a shirt and heading out to find his other brother.

Kol found the Hybrid in the garage of the massive home. He was leaning over the open hood of one the black SUVs.

"I must say, I expected you to have fled halfway to Canada by now," Klaus acknowledged Kol coming into the room, barely glancing up from his work. He thought for sure he would have at least left Mystic Falls after the dagger threat.

"The thought may have crossed my mind," Kol replied coolly, shoving his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "What are you doing?" He directed the attention to Klaus.

"Just going through my preliminary travel to-do list," Klaus spoke calmly while grabbing a new container of motor oil. "Fill the gasoline tanks. Check the oil. Pack some blood bags. Kill the doppelganger. The usual," He smirked faintly.

A brief snort came from Kol before he went to say, "Then it sounds like you and I have a mutual interest."

Klaus' hands halted for a moment before he shot back, "I think you can figure out how to change your own oil."

Kol frowned at the sass, choosing to correct him seriously, "I'm talking about the doppelganger."

Klaus stopped what he was doing and looked up at Kol from under the hood. "You want to kill the doppelganger?" He repeated dubiously. Kol nodded once. "I have trouble believing that after last night."

Kol let out a pronounced sigh, his gaze wandering away while he admitted casually, "Yes well, that was before I had my fun with her… then Elijah attacked me and Rebekah put a dagger to my back."

Klaus' brows rose in a rather morbidly impressed manner at the second half of his statement.

"So you can see, she's more trouble to me alive than dead," Kol stated.

Klaus stared at his indifferent expression and borderline aggravated glare. He was weighing how legitimate his claim was. The brother, the one with his emotions off, he remembered would be willing to snap the neck of such a troublesome mortal without consulting anyone. The one he saw last night could barely entertain such a conversation. So it left Klaus torn on what exactly he was dealing with.

"And what are you proposing?" Klaus wondered, knowing Kol didn't come out here for idle chit chat or risk being so close to him again after the dagger threat over nothing.

"It's simple, really," Kol shrugged his shoulders. "You back off, no more daggers… in exchange, I'll kill the doppelganger myself."

"And I'm just supposed to take your word for it? That you're going to do this?" Klaus countered dubiously. He also really wanted to get his dagger back, but at least he had three more.

Kol thought it over a moment, pursuing his lips as he did.

He added on, "And I'll send you proof when it's done."

Klaus mulled it over, sizing up his brother and looking for any fracture in his demeanor. Finally, a slow smirk rose up on his face.

* * *

Maggie woke with a sharp inhale. The memory of Jeremy shouting and the pain from Bonnie's attack was still fresh in her mind. She turned her head to the side and winced greatly from the action. The muscles in her neck were stiff and it throbbed.

Many parts of her body screamed. Her legs were stiff and tight as well. She felt the sharp, taunt pain in her groin and the back of her thighs from the exertion of the night before. There was a heated throbbing coming from her shoulders, breasts, and neck, particularly when she moved and became acutely aware of the bruising there.

It wasn't quite like the cold reality of realizing she was waking up alone though. The blankets of the bed were in disarray and Maggie had one sheet tucked over her naked and battered body. For several moments, she just laid in the bed, trying to sum the energy to get up and recall the last thing she could remember the night before.

She could still smell Kol on the sheets and felt like his sweat was still dry on her body.

Her head throbbed from the dehydration combined with the dizziness from all the blood loss. Maggie pushed herself up on her side and she cringed when she felt the pillow case sticking to her neck. Looking down at where she had been, she saw the dried blood on the mockingly white cotton.

She touched her neck and hissed from the action, but she could feel the blood caked around where Kol had bitten her.

Maggie moved stiffly and slowly out of the bed. She could tell it was late in the morning, but the house was silent.

She moved around to salvage what she could of her clothes. She found her jeans okay, but her top was another story. Now it was just a cotton rag, thanks to Kol. She would have to raid something out of Lucy's closet in the meantime.

She stepped into the guest bathroom in the hallway. Flicking on the light, Maggie let out a gasp at her own reflection. She looked awful and not lying in the hospital bed under bad florescent lights, but literally awful.

There were two bite marks, one on each side of her neck. She could tell which one was the hybrid's, since it wasn't as clean as Kol's, but Kol's still had dry blood running down from it. Her expression was pale and sickly from the amount of blood loss.

That didn't startle her nearly as much as the amount of bruising. She could see teeth marks all along her shoulders, particularly on her shoulder blades when she turned in the mirror. There were even several on her breasts, some that oddly matched the indentations of fingers. Her neck was the worst and had the heaviest shades of purple, almost wrapping in a complete band around her neck.

She looked… well, like Kol had fucked her thoroughly and nearly bled her dry.

Maggie cringed as that thought came to her mind. "What the hell was I thinking?" She muttered out loud to herself. Why did she have to go and lose her control of her emotions? Better yet, why did she just let him use and abuse her body like that?

The fact he wasn't standing with her now spoke volumes about what it meant to him. He was gone before she even woke up.

Maggie attempted to wash her face a bit, but she found herself getting dizzy from standing too long. Maybe she should eat something first and rest. Later she could wash the rest of her self-respect down the drain in a shower.

She moved on to Lucy's closet after that. She felt bad about going through the witch's possessions, but she didn't have any other options at the moment. She found a white tank top, which hung a little larger on her unnourished frame. Over that, she found a casual green blouse. She buttoned it up half way, leaving the top open before she made her way down the stairs.

Maggie stopped for a moment when she spotted the living room from the main hallway. "Shit," She muttered. Lucy was going to kill her when she sees what Maggie did to her living room. It looked even more trashed in the broad daylight.

The smell of something being cooked caught Maggie's attention. It smelled oddly like butter and eggs. Maggie followed the scent into the kitchen.

To her surprise, the small dinette table was set up with a plate of food already. It didn't stun her as much as seeing Kol standing at the kitchen counter, mixing up some sort of drink or concoction.

Kol looked up at Maggie shuffling into the room with about as much life as a walker.

"Hello darling," He greeted with a smirk, moving to toss the last frying pan that he used into the sink to wash later.

Maggie's mouth hung open and she forgot her manners. "You're okay," She pointed out numbly.

Kol stopped and furrowed his brows oddly at her. "Yes…" He confirmed, glancing around him and wondering if there was a reason he shouldn't be.

"But you…" Maggie reached up and barely touched her neck, gesturing towards the bite.

"Ah, that!" Kol perked up, picking up on her line of thought. He briefly turned back to what he was doing while he spoke, "No worries, I was aware of your peculiar little defense mechanisms before I did that."

"Defense mechanisms?" Maggie repeated with confusion and wandered into the room fully.

"I only had theories about it before, I had never seen a successful doppelganger before you… But I knew it was true when I saw that hybrid drop dead in the Grill last night," Kol explained and then turned back to Maggie.

He paused his explanation to nod towards the plate of food, "Are you hungry?"

"Yes," Maggie responded, feeling her stomach grumble. She moved over towards the table, seeing a plate of toast and what looked like scrambled eggs. "Did you?" She asked in wonder, unable to help checking to make sure the microwave was still intact.

Kol nodded while Maggie took a seat.

Maggie was starting not to feel so bad about waking up alone, especially if he had been downstairs cooking her breakfast.

"Anyway, these defense mechanisms… your inability to be compelled, no doubt so that no vampire can influence your decisions and I'm sure that direct relates to your intolerance for vervain," Kol rattled the first one off in a matter of fact manner while he went back to the drinks he was preparing.

"Your blood has a defense mechanism too, if it's taken unwillingly it's a poison to your attacker. But willingly given, then it's a cure for the werewolf curse…" Kol paused in what he was doing to look over at Maggie with a smirk before adding, "And last night I would say you were quite willing."

Maggie felt what little blood she did have left rush to her cheeks. She buried her attention by picking up the fork and digging into the food. She supposed she never thought of it that way. She had never offered her up her human blood before and last night she had reacted out of fear for Kol when he bit her.

Maggie took several bites of food. It tasted delicious, buttery and flavorful on her senses and her stomach grumbled for more.

"What about Klaus?" Maggie changed the subject abruptly.

"Packing his bags and heading out of Mystic Falls as we speak," Kol declared smugly and grabbed the two glasses from the counter. One was remarkably darker than the others, but still shades of red. The one had a tomato and vodka smell coming from it, the other had a coppery must.

Maggie frowned in thought, wondering how Elijah and Kol had managed to get rid of Klaus.

He walked towards Maggie at the table and held the first one out to her. "Bloody Mary?" He offered with a smirk.

"Really?" Maggie questioned incredulously, especially the irony of a vampire offering her that. She was pretty sure alcohol was the last thing she needed right now.

"I thought you would prefer this over the alternative," Kol said darkly and then took a very pointed sip from the glass of human blood in his right hand.

"Screw it," Maggie muttered and took the glass from him.

Kol moved to take a seat in the chair opposite from Maggie while watching her take a gulp from the glass.

She choked a bit at first before swallowing it down. "It's a little strong," Her voice came out hoarse, covering her mouth.

"Sorry," Kol shrugged unsympathetically. "I've forgotten how weak human tolerances are."

Maggie bit tongue at that comment and took another sip. Once she got past the initial burn, it was actually a pretty good drink. She found herself taking several long gulps between making quick work of her plate of food.

The part that unnerved her was the silent way Kol watched her the entire time. He leaned back in his chair with one arm draped on the back while calming taking sips from his drink.

Something was off, Maggie realized. While the morning breakfast and sticking around for her to wake up was sweet, there was something standoffish about him.

She couldn't get a good read on him either. She hated how well he could mask his thoughts right now.

The longer the silence dragged between them, the more Maggie felt subconscious. Maybe she was being paranoid? Was she expecting too much?

"Kol," Maggie finally said, setting down the fork. The plate was mostly empty and two-thirds of her drink was gone. "About last night…"

"It's funny you should mention that," Kol suddenly snapped out, almost harshly and cutting Maggie off.

He sat upright in his chair, putting both elbows against the table. "I saw the most fascinating dream of yours," He confessed without regret. "I was in it too, dancing with you… at a party that I'm pretty sure that never happened. It was quite strange and a little bit perverse, I might add."

Maggie felt her stomach knot uncomfortably, especially with the food she just ate. But she didn't tear her eyes away from Kol for a moment. If she went any paler, she would pass out.

She knew what real horror was then and there, realizing he had been inside her head and could have seen any number of things. Dancing at a party? Which time? There were several and many implications.

Maggie shook her head. "I don't know, it was just a dream…" She said weakly. Right? People had crazy dreams all the time, that doesn't mean it had mean anything.

Kol stared at Maggie long and hard.

While her expression didn't give away much, her heart rate betrayed her. "See, the remarkable thing about being a vampire for a thousand years is not only can I tell when you are lying…" Kol proceed with a low and ominous tone, briefly glancing at the glass of blood in front of him.

He looked back up at Maggie pointedly before nearly hissing, "I can also tell the difference between a dream… and a _memory_."

Kol rose up to his feet, pushing the chair back.

Maggie rose up quickly, matching his movements. Her heart fell and she felt like she had been caught in the headlights of a fast approaching vehicle. "Kol, wait…" She struggled to begin while Kol closed the distance between them.

"How could you have been a vampire? How did I see someone who is dead already?!" Kol's voice rose, almost into a shout, thinking about all the impossible things he had witnessed in those two short memories.

"Kol, wait, let me explain," Maggie's words became choked as Kol descended upon her. He wrapped one hand around her neck easily. Her hands pulled at his wrist helpless.

"Quick!" He barked at her. "I've given you enough chances." He couldn't take any more of her lies. He felt his rage building up, coursing like acid through his veins.

Maggie gasped, struggling to get a decent breath of air. She rose up on her toes, to match the way his hand pulled her up. "You turned me!" She cried out.

"Impossible!" Kol snarled, giving her a violent shake in the process. They had never met before! Not since that day in Chicago, it couldn't be true. She was still lying to him.

"I swear!" Maggie's nails dug in vain into his wrist. For once, she was truly afraid of those black eyes staring down at her. She could already see the veins starting to move under his eyes and the fangs seemed more pronounced than ever.

"You turned me," Maggie tried to plead the truth with him. "Then I died, but then I came –"

_Crack!_

Kol had enough. He could listen to this woman try to deceive him any further. Before he could think better of it or control him, his wrist gave a twitch.

That was all the fragile human neck needed before it broke. Maggie's words were silenced in an instant. Her head was left twisted an awkward angle in his grasp. Her eyes were still open, wide with the terror he had instilled in her in her last moment.

Kol let go of her abruptly, almost as if she had shocked him.

Truthfully, he hadn't meant to kill her so soon. But these damn emotions, they were getting the best of him lately.

Her body dropped to the ground with an unceremonious thud. He stared down at her crumpled form. Her head twisted in a way it shouldn't have been. His bite mark was exposed obviously to the sunlight and the bruising accented the dry blood around it.

She had lied to him so many times and he still didn't know the truth.

Kol took a few deep breaths to calm him down. He quickly reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out his cell phone. He didn't take his eyes off Maggie while he pressed the call button.

The phone was answered on the first ring. "Kol? Where are you?" Elijah's voice came filled with concern.

"Elijah," Kol said flatly. "Is Nik with you?"

There was a scuffle noise and a couple of hushed voices on the other side. "Right here, Kol," Klaus' answered for him. His voice was muffled. Kol could tell he was likely standing in the same room while Elijah held the phone.

Kol declared in a voice lacking emotion, "The doppelganger is dead."

* * *

_Author's Note: Uh oh, Maggie's dead._

_But is she dead dead? And how did she get vampire blood? ;) Can you figure it out?_

_I'm really curious to hear what you guys think Kol's motivations are and where you think his head is at!_

_Anyway, this is the longest chapter I've ever written and there's a lot going on so you all better take some time to leave a review and tell me what you think, hahah!_

_Review responses – _

_M: You wanted more steam this chapter, you got it. ;D _

_Ellie: I'm glad you liked that make out scene, let me know what you think of the ones from this chapter. There wasn't a whole lot left to the Georgia trip, I hope the rest the chapter makes up for that. _

_Kellie: I'm not sure if you saw my post on Tumblr but that comment on Maggie totally cracked me up! And yeah I think you are kinda right. I'm hoping with IRR it shows that Maggie has matured a bit since then and she's a little more human in this one. She's just been put in a really crappy situation._

_Guest: I know how you feel! Sometimes I just want to push them towards each other and tell them to kiss and make up. But they have a lot of hurdles to overcome. _

_Anyway I love the reviews! Thank you for all the wonderful feedback. I do take it to heart and I hope it shows in my writing. Keep it up, love you guys!_


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